Aaron Ramsey was carrying an injury when he started the game against Chelsea on the bench.

When the Welshman, one of the first names on the team sheet when fit under Arsene Wenger, was not named in the starting lineup by Unai Emery, many assumed that the head coach was sending him a message.

Exactly what that message was the media, pundits and fans couldn’t agree on. Some said it was because he was poor against City (who wasn’t?), others said it was because he was asking for too much in terms of a wage increase while others said it was because Unai Emery doesn’t rate him.

Only a handful suggested that it could be an injury problem because that doesn’t make for quite such an exciting story.

Emery has already made his feelings about Ramsey clear. He rates the midfielder highly and wants him to stay as one of his five captains.

Ramsey’s agent has already denied reports claiming he wants wage parity with Mesut Ozil.

With Ramsey already turning down one contract offer from the club, James Olley in the Evening Standard also reports that the club are not willing to offer him the same ridiculous £350kpw that the German earns.

The good thing is it doesn’t appear that Ramsey, nor his camp, are asking for that much. But that’s the problem you run into when you no longer have a salary cap and one star is earning significantly more than the rest – all the players start to want more, more, more. The club have, however, allegedly told Ramsey that Ozil carries specific worldwide commercial appeal that helps offset his wages and that he should not use that as a benchmark.

There were reports following the weekend’s game that Arsenal players were ‘STUNNNED’ by Emery’s decision not to start Ramsey however given his history with injury, I am STUNNED that anyone would pay attention to those stories.