The Ramsey Replacement? by Midkemma
I think we have all seen the value of Ramsey in the last couple games, his partnership alongside Xhaka has flourished under Emery when we play with a back three, the real value has been seen in consistently playing attractive attacking football. Okay, I say consistently, it hasn’t been a run of games to remove doubt, but I do think that what we have seen has been very impressive.
This attacking threat from CM is something we will need to replace when Ramsey moves on, we have read many rumours flying around, many of the rumours have been uninspiring due to the financial restrictions that appear to be hindering our ability to replace a world class player with equal quality.
How much would it cost to replace Ramsey? He is hitting his prime, he is a big game player, his only flaws have been defensive awareness and injuries. The defensive faults could in large be down to Wenger, Emery doesn’t seem to let this slide and I do think Ramsey isn’t bad at his defensive duties now. Ramsey is almost that complete CM, how much will it cost to replace such a complete CM?
What if I said it would cost Arsenal nothing?
A player who has pace to burn along with strength to hold his own, a player who has shown he can defend well while being a threat in the final third, a player who can carry the ball from deep. Sounds too good to be true right? At only 21 (22 next season), this player will be one year older than Vieira when he joined us and look how he turned out for us. Torreira was only 22 when we signed him and look at how Guendouzi has done at a younger age.
The player I am talking about is Ainsley Maitland-Niles. Why do we need to spend £50 million or more on a replacement when we have such a talent who gets shoved into any other position due to his immense qualities? Who else could be trusted to play the right-wing back role, a role which must attack and defend, a role which holds great importance in Emeryball. If people can remember the game against Man United, I know it is a single example but for such an inexperienced lad, Maitland-Niles performed better than anyone could have asked for. If this young lad can put in such performances at right wing back, also being the only player to come out of the Liverpool game with credit, all while being switched form role to role… One question screams out at us, how good can he be if he wasn’t being moved around? How good could he be if he was told to learn a position, like Guendouzi is learning?
So, I would say that we already have our replacement for Ramsey, the money which could be spent on a Ramsey replacement should go towards a player who can compete with Bellerin for the Right back or right-wing back role.
What do you think?
Should Arsenal look to buy a replacement for Ramsey or do you agree with me and think Arsenal already have a player capable of replacing Ramsey?
Midkemma