Ex-Gunner in advanced talks for vacant managerial position

Oxford are looking for a new head coach after sacking Matt Bloomfield, while Aaron Ramsey is also believed to have interest from Wales if Craig Bellamy moves on.

Aaron Ramsey is in advanced talks to become the new head coach of Oxford United, with the former Arsenal midfielder ready to take the first significant step in his managerial career.

Oxford are looking for a new head coach after sacking Matt Bloomfield at the weekend. Bloomfield was appointed in January 2026 and oversaw a second half of a season that ended in relegation to League One, leaving the club to reset quickly before the new campaign.

Ramsey’s name has also been discussed in relation to the Wales job should Craig Bellamy leave to take over at Burnley, but the 35-year-old is believed to prefer beginning his managerial career in club football rather than stepping straight into a national-team role.

That would fit with what Ramsey said only a few months ago, when he confirmed that coaching was now his intended path after announcing his retirement from playing in April. His brief spell as interim head coach at Cardiff City only focussed that ambition, rather than making him hesitate after three games without a win.

“That [managing Arsenal or Wales] would be the dream,” Ramsey admitted (via The S*n). “I know there is a long way to go before then. It’s time to go into coaching now. 100 per cent.

“I managed Cardiff for a few games but that just made me realise it’s definitely the next step for me. That will be on the cards next.

“I’m really excited. I’ve had some coaching exposure around the Wales set-up, working with some unbelievable staff there and I’ve done some work with Cardiff’s u18s so I’ve been keeping myself busy.”

Oxford may now offer the route into that future.

Ramsey played 369 times for Arsenal, but the wider arc of his career was altered on 27 February 2010, when Ryan Shawcross went through the teenager at the Britannia and caused a double fracture of the tibia and fibula in his right leg.

The injury was horrific, players were visibly distressed, and Ramsey required immediate surgery before beginning a recovery that was both physically and psychologically gruelling. He was out for almost a year.

Ramsey made it back, and returned to the elite level, but his career was irreparably damaged. Successive loan spells were needed to rebuild him, and although he became a hugely important player for Arsenal, the injury pattern of his career had already started to form.

Now Ramsey is preparing for the next part of his football life.

Oxford, newly relegated and in need of direction, may offer that platform. For Arsenal supporters, it would be the start of a coaching journey that Ramsey has already admitted he hopes might one day bring him back to the Emirates.

• Jose Mourinho left fuming as Vinicius Junior ban appeal rejected

  Jose Mourinho was left fuming after the decision to hand summer Arsenal target Vinicius Junior a four-match ban in midweek, with the winger to miss El Clásico.

  

  Vinicius Junior was involved in a bizarre moment with Real Madrid against Villarreal last week, scoring a goal only to have it ruled out by VAR for a red-card offence against him.

  Vinicius had clearly pulled Nathan Saliba back by his hair, and to make matters worse, the referee then highlighted the winger’s furious reaction in his post-match report.

  Such a reaction risked additional matches being added to Vinicius’ suspension, and so it proved. Earlier this week, Vinicius was banned for four domestic fixtures. Two games for the hair-pull offence, and two more for his on-field reaction to the sending off.

  To rub salt in the wound, the announcement was made just hours before Real Madrid’s Champions League game against AS Roma.

  

  Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho certainly wasn’t happy, saying: “Do you think it’s normal for a player who is going to play an important match for Spanish football to know two hours before that he is sanctioned with four games?

  “You don’t need to answer me. It’s not normal. Couldn’t they do it now or tomorrow morning? We found out on the bus and almost arrived at the stadium.”

  Vinicius himself added: “I don’t remember any player ever getting a four-game suspension. I tried to get past the player in front of me and ended up grabbing his hair.

  “That’s it – a red card. That’s why I was so surprised, but I didn’t say a single bad word to the referee to deserve a four-game suspension.”

  

  Unfortunately for Vinicius and Real Madrid, the four-match ban includes next week’s El Clásico away to Barcelona, as well as games against Sevilla (H), Racing Santander (A), and Valencia (A).

  The Athletic report that Real Madrid’s appeal against the suspension has been rejected by the Spanish Football Federation’s appeal committee, though the club have indicated they will attempt a further appeal with the Administrative Sports Tribunal.

  Unless that second appeal proves significantly more successful than the first, Vinicius is set to miss one of his team’s biggest games of the season next weekend.

  

• Ex-Spurs star defends former Arsenal midfielder

  Rafael van der Vaart has defended Fabio Vieira after a slow start to the midfielder’s second spell with Hamburger SV, who sit a few points clear of relegation in the Bundesliga.

  

  Fabio Vieira moved to Hamburger SV late in the summer transfer window, bringing to an end his time with Arsenal. Vieira had spent last season on loan with HSV, and he’d made enough of an impression that they wanted to bring him back.

  But the permanent spell hasn’t entirely gone to plan so far, with Vieira yet to score or assist a goal, and HSV losing two of his four games 5-0.

  They did at least win the other two, but they sit 13th in the Bundesliga table, just two points clear of the relegation play-off place and three points clear of automatic relegation.

  

  Even so, former HSV and Tottenham Hotspur player Rafael van der Vaart has leapt to Vieira’s defence.

  “He’s obvi­ously a great player,” van der Vaart said. “But you should never com­pare him with me or other play­ers. It’s not about whether he’s the best HSV player since van der Vaart or Bar­barez. One must not for­get that I had it easier than him.

  “I also played badly more often than not. But we were a team that could handle that. We had a lot of big names and were among the top teams in the Bundes­liga. When I was bad, oth­ers were good.

  “I think that Fabio has it much harder than me. It’s something dif­fer­ent when you’re play­ing against releg­a­tion with your team.”

  

  Saturday’s game against VfB Stuttgart represents a good opportunity for Vieira and the team, taking on the team one spot above them in the table.

  A win would allow HSV to leapfrog their opponents, whilst defeat would likely drop them down the standings, given their terrible goal difference.

  Only relegation-zone sides Union Berlin and Borussia Monchengladbach have a worse goal difference than HSV right now, and there’s only a goal or two in it.

  Given Vieira’s HSV contract has a sell-on clause in it, Arsenal will be hoping the player and his new team turn things around at some stage.

  

• What Mikel Arteta really said about Arsenal’s job cuts

  Mikel Arteta has been widely misquoted by the media whilst talking about Arsenal’s decision to cut 60 jobs, with his words taken out of context to paint a different picture.

  

  Earlier this week, Sam Dean broke the news for The Telegraph that Arsenal had informed staff that they plan to cut 60 jobs as part of cost-cutting measures, with staff informed on a call with Richard Garlick on Wednesday.

  Dean’s report added that management consultants Boston Consulting Group were enlisted by Arsenal to examine the business side of the club. The job cuts are reportedly concentrated on off-field areas, and won’t directly affect the footballing departments or roles in The Arsenal Foundation.

  Mikel Arteta was then asked about about the job cuts in his pre-Nottingham Forest press conference, and if you believe the mainstream media headlines, he defended the club’s decision:

  

  The issue is that Arteta explicitly wasn’t giving his own opinion when he used the much-highlighted “evolve and improve” line.

  The Arsenal boss started the comment by explaining that he was repeating what had been explained to him, and ended it by clarifying again that he was reiterating the club’s explanation, whilst repeatedly insisting he wasn’t the right person to answer the question.

  “Well said, first, because this question is not for me,” Arteta began.

  “I was explained about the exercise and analysis that has been done across the club, and with the intention always to evolve, to improve, some decisions have to be taken to put people in the right roles and keep investing to achieve what we want to achieve, and the success that we want to create.

  “So that’s been explained (to me). Obviously I’m not the right person to answer to that question, that’s for sure, and hopefully everybody will respect that.”

  

  It’s clear in context that Arteta isn’t giving his own opinion, but rather telling the media what he has been told. As the manager of the football team, rather than the business, he obviously doesn’t play a major role in Arsenal’s off-field non-football employment decisions.

  If someone needs to ‘defend’ the club’s decision on job cuts, it should be someone like Richard Garlick, who is actually involved in making that call.

  But as the journalist asking Arteta the question pointed out, they don’t have a press conference with Richard Garlick, they have a press conference with Arteta. So they have to put the question to Arteta, even though they know it’s not up to him.

  That all makes sense. The decision to then paint Arteta’s comments as his personal defence of the job cuts is more obviously cynical.

  

• Arsenal summer signing shines in 2-1 u18 north London derby win

  Arsenal summer signing Mylo Bernard scored a brace to help his new team come from behind to win the north London derby, despite two goalkeeper injuries.

  

  The u18 north London derby has a bit of a reputation for being a high-scoring affair. Of the last five matches between the Arsenal u18s and the Tottenham Hotspur u18s, all of them have involved at least four goals, with some seeing as many as eight or 10.

  But Saturday’s edition of the derby had a surprisingly low-key first half, with no goals in the first 45 minutes, and not even too many shots.

  That was always likely to change at some point, and the goals eventually arrived a few minutes after the break.

  

  Youth striker Mylo Bernard joined Arsenal from Crystal Palace over the summer, making his debut as a substitute in a 5-1 win over Norwich City in September. But this was Bernard’s first start for the u18s, and it could hardly have come in a bigger game.

  And when Spurs took the lead through Joel Philbert in the 50th minute, Bernard was the player to step up and draw Arsenal level.

  Straight from the kick-off, Hakeem Abubakar raced down the left-hand side before crossing for Bernard, who finished the chance for 1-1 and his first Arsenal goal.

  

  Arsenal were dealt a fresh blow in the 75th minute as goalkeeper Jack Talbot suffered an injury, and he was forced off to be replaced by Max Lo Presti.

  Funnily enough, Lo Presti had made his u18 debut and only previous appearance for the u18s earlier in the season as a substitute, coming on for a few minutes after Talbot received a red card against Brighton. Once again, he was called upon to step in against Spurs.

  But Lo Presti’s second appearance didn’t last long, as he himself picked up an injury in the 90th minute, and Arsenal were forced to put midfielder Emerson Nwaneri in goal for the final stages.

  Yet it was Arsenal who took the lead in injury time, with Bernard scoring his second goal of the game with a cannoning shot off the bar for a 2-1 lead. He was assisted by substitute Luis Munoz, who found him after a long kick from temporary goalkeeper Nwaneri.

  The Gunners saw out the win for all three points, and bragging rights in the derby.

  

  Arsenal u18 lineup vs Spurs

  Talbot, Owusu-Gyasi, Abubakar, Mbala, McCarron, Murisa, Purdy, Bernard, Nwaneri, Maghoma, Hashi

  Substitutes

  Munoz (for Maghoma, 45), Odaji-Ukueku (for Purdy, 61), Donczew (for Hashi, 61), Lo Presti (for Talbot, 75), Pedro (for McCarron, 78), Sesay (for Lo Presti, 90), Stachow

  

• Arteta explains why Saliba was left out of team photo

  Mikel Arteta has explained why William Saliba was left out of Arsenal’s first-team squad photo, adding that they intend to take another one at some point.

  

  Arsenal posted their first-team squad photo for 2026/27 earlier this week, but before even a minute had passed, the club had issued a clarification to explain William Saliba’s absence from it.

  Arsenal wrote: “Due to a medical appointment, William Saliba was not available this afternoon.”

  Even so, fans were confused. Why even take the photo if not everyone was available? Couldn’t they have waited?

  

  Mikel Arteta explained in his subsequent press conference that the club had already rescheduled the photo multiple times, and they needed to get it taken to meet their commercial commitments. But the intention is to take it again when they have the opportunity.

  “We have tried to do that picture three times already, but we have had to cancel it at the last minute for different reasons,” Arteta revealed. “We have some commercial obligations and had people who came and flew over to do that, so we decided to take that picture at least.

  “We’ll have another picture with the whole family when hopefully we can get them all together at some point.

  “It wasn’t in [Saliba’s] hands, but normally he’s happy about everything. He knows how loved he is. They were having some banter at the place, so he’s completely fine.”

  

  The other noteworthy player selections from the photo were the inclusions of Max Dowman and Marli Salmon.

  The two youngsters are really youth players by age, but they’re clearly considered first-team players by Arteta and his coaching team.

  It would certainly be good to get another team photo at some stage, as Saliba deserves to be involved in the picture sitting alongside the Premier League trophy and the Community Shield.