Eleven years with the Gunners, 369 appearances for the club, three FA Cups while at the Emirates (scoring the winner in two finals) – that’s Aaron Ramsey for you. Former Arsenal midfielder plays for Cardiff City now at the age of 33, but his best years were in North London. However, as he confessed, he could have gone to either Liverpool or Manchester United as a 17-year old kid. In the end, the combination of a high fee and different motivation from managers like Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger proved to be crucial for Ramsey.After 15 years of wandering, Rambo is finally coming homeSpeaking for Sky Sports, the former Welsh international admitted that before Arsenal he talked to other clubs and even done the visiting tour, but that he never got to Alex Ferguson, who was busy.“Ferguson was on the phone a few times. But it was the assistant manager at the time. There were some discussions with Rafa Benitez. But they couldn’t really get to the fee. They could do something around the 1million or 2 million pounds but I think it went towards the five and that was the end of that. Rafa was very good and the presentation he gave was superb. I went to David Moyes’ house as well, he was very accommodating” recalls the Welshman.🗣️ Aaron Ramsey on Arsenal’s red card issues: “It’s not something to worry about yet… but it’s hard enough to win a game with 11 players, never mind 10!” 🟥pic.twitter.com/s0avGq4CHu— DailyAFC (@DailyAFC) October 21, 2024 Then it was time for Arsenal to make a move, which they eventually did and got him for the next decade. Ramsey explained what were the Gunners offering.“Why Arsenal? I felt like Wenger really wanted me. He was doing the Euros at the time and they flew me over there when he had a few hours off. We had lunch… everything about him and his vision and his plans. He had a really detailed plan and the amount of young players he brought through and have gone on was appealing to me. For example, Cesc Fabregas – so I felt really wanted by Arsenal” he said.Juve paid Ramsey 3 million euros for early termination of the contractAfter 11 years, the Welsh midfielder eventually went to play in Italy, for Juventus, but he recalls he was not so keen to leave the Emirates.“It was a very weird time. I wanted to commit my future to Arsenal. We just went through a change in manager. I said I am happy, let’s go, then it all went a bit quiet. I don’t know the ins and outs of why, I imagine it was the new manager wanting to see the squad, but I didn’t see anything beyond that. I was Arsenal through and through, but then it all went quiet and I had to make a decision and you can start talking to clubs. There were a few discussions” he said.UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE – ROUND 3Tuesday19:45: (1.45) AC Milan (4.40) Club Brugge (7.25)19:45: (1.40) Monaco (5.30) Crvena Zvezda (8.00)22:00: (1.10) Arsenal (11.0) Shakhtar (18.0)22:00: (1.62) Aston Villa (3.80) Bologna (5.80)22:00: (1.20) Girona (8.00) Slovan B. (14.0)22:00: (1.87) Juventus (3.50) Stuttgart (4.20)22:00: (1.45) PSG (4.50) PSV (7.00)22:00: (1.50) Real Madrid (4.40) Dortmund (6.50)22:00: (8.00) Sturm (4.70) Sporting (1.40)Wednesday19:45: (1.45) Atalanta (4.50) Celtic (7.00)19:45: (6.25) Brest (4.70) Leverkusen (1.48)22:00: (1.53) Atl.Madrid (4.00) Lille (6.75)22:00: (2.40) Barcelona (3.60) Bayern (2.80)22:00: (1.62) Benfica (3.90) Feyenoord (5.60)22:00: (1.07) Man.City (13.0) Sparta Praha (25.0)22:00: (4.00) RB Leipzig (3.60) Liverpool (1.90)22:00: (1.75) Salzburg (3.60) Dinamo Zagreb (4.90)22:00: (8.00) Young Boys (4.70) Inter Milan (1.40)***odds are subject to change***
