At the end of 2019, Arsène Wenger said Aaron Ramsey was keen to stay at Arsenal and had an agreement to do so, but the club went back on it.
Ramsey left for Juventus last summer, after running down his contract with Arsenal.
There was a lot of speculation about exactly why he’d done so though, with some suggestion that Arsenal had simply decided against extending his contract.
There were reports his agent was more than a bit frustrating and that Arsenal withdrew the contract because Unai Emery decided against it. Even Ramsey himself was confused.
Now, he’s apparently up for sale and there is a lot of talk about whether or not Arsenal should re-sign him, spreading a lot of misinformation along with the gossip, which is no help for those interested in teaser bets.
Speaking to beIN SPORTS in his duties as a pundit at the end of last year, Arsène Wenger explained his view on Ramsey’s departure.
“I met (with) him once, he wanted to stay at Arsenal,” Wenger said. “They had an agreement and the club came back on that, from what I understood. I tried a long time to extend his contract, but sometimes there are influences of agents as well.
“Every case is different. You have to understand in decision-making it’s always who is influential…What I know from him, he was keen to stay.”
It’s worth noting that Wenger mentioned Ramsey’s agent. He apparently profited to the tune of €9m for getting the Welshman to Juventus for free given and was also a key talking point throughout the process. It’s possible the agency made some kind of demand that convinced Arsenal to pull out, though that’s just speculation.
Obviously, Wenger was only with Arsenal for the early part of the decision-making process. The Frenchman left the club a year before Ramsey did, and it seems the call was made later that year, so it is possible there’s more to it than the former Gunners boss knows.
All the same, you’d imagine Wenger would have spoken to Ramsey about the move at some stage, and he clearly spoke to him a lot before leaving, so there aren’t many more reliable sources of information on what happened.