New Arsenal signing Aaron Ramsey has broken his silence on his £5 million switch to North London, citing Arsène Wenger and Cesc Fabregas as huge reasons for choosing the Gunners over boyhood heroes Manchester United.
Ramsey was the celebrity guest at his former school Ysgol Gyfun Cwn Rhymni over the weekend, as the local Rugby team held an auction to raise funds for a proposed trip to Canada. The former pupil added to the cause, by shelling out £420 on a jersey signed by members of the Welsh squad which won the 6 nations.
Whilst the main focus of the evening was on raising money, waiting journalists took no time in putting questions to the 17 year old. He was quizzed first of all about his hopes for the coming campaign.
“I am just so looking forward to the start of pre-season training”
“Obviously the plan for me is to have a good pre-season and try my hardest to get up to the fitness levels the Premiership requires. Then I will try my best to get in the starting line-up at the beginning of the season against West Brom.”
Next came the main subject of discussion, which was why he rejected Everton and Manchester United in favour of the Gunners. Although he made it clear he grew up supporting The Red Devils, he knew Arsenal would be best for his development.
“I’m so happy to have signed for Arsenal and I can’t wait to meet my new team-mates.”
“I supported Manchester United as a youngster because they were on the TV the whole time and my footballing idol was Roy Keane,” Ramsey added. “But once I had spoken to Arsene Wenger, the way he described the Arsenal set-up and their plans for the future impressed me.”
“I just had a gut instinct that the right move for me would be joining Arsenal.”
“I thought about where the best place would be for me to develop as a player…and that was Arsenal.”
Should anybody try and question his decision, the intelligent youngster then pushed the media onto the back foot and defended his choice.
“I don’t think too many people wouldn’t look forward to coming under the guidance of Arsène Wenger and playing next to someone like Cesc Fabregas.
“Arsene is a great manager and Cesc can make something happen out of nothing on the pitch.”
He completed the interview by thanking, and pledging his support to former employers Cardiff City, and whilst it’s clear they played a huge part in his development, bigger and better things lay ahead for Aaron.
Article By – J.Sanderson
He bought an Audi to replace his ford fiesta, he has good taste :D what kind of cars do other Arsenal players drive?!!
Haha.
I remember all the boys at Cardiff were slating him for that car!.
Alot of the Reserves boys cant drive yet, Nacer Barazite has a Golf GTI i think.
Alex Hleb has a nice car as well!
He talks about playing alongside Cesc as though he could play through centre with him eventually.
Was down at the Armoury yesterday to get my 22 Clichy shirt. The guys were saying Theo is top seller so far.
Yeah exactly haha!! Nacer Barazite drives a typical car a Dutch Morrocan would drive :P The VW Golf 5 GTI looks nice though… Does Arsenal have a lease deal with a car company like Ajax and Real Madrid have with Audi and PSV with volkswagen?!!
Hleb can drive his car all the way to Barcalona !
Good article J this boy has head screwed on he will break into the 1st team im sure.
I’m So looking forward to pre-season and watching the likes of Ramsey and some of the other youngters we’ve got coming through! lus it’s a good distraction from the drival our national press print about our club. Is it true theres a press conference tonight to 1)discuss the negative press reports surrounding our club 2) discuss Kronke new role and possible investment and 3) to plan the strategy for dealing with Adebayor / Hleb and bringing in fresh blood?
Topgunpris can you pick the Nike font when you buy a shirt at the Arsenal store or only the EPL font that is used on all the English club shirts, I liked the font of last years Champions League shirt…
Has Nasri completed the two-part medical at Shenley yet?
Steve I hope that is so true and that we get some proper information cause even though I’ve calmed down a bit I’m really fed up with all the bull shit stuff I have to read everyday that is written about Arsenal. It would be good to get some reassurance for once…
i absolutely can’t wait to see this guy play. he’s got a bit of theo’s attitude in him – targeting a starting berth without being too cocky – and seems to have all the attributes of an Arsenal midfield maestro in the making. J.Sanderson, which youth/reserves player do you think will be first to break into the starting 11? (hello from south africa).
Mouhsin, this is what most arsenal fans (that I speak to) want.
Did you noticed he said next to cesc so he will play in the center
The full interview can be viewed here: http://www.walesonline.co.uk/footballnation/cardiff-city-fc/2008/07/07/new-boy-ramsey-gunning-to-make-opener-91466-21271997/
Alongside Cesc.. Cesc plays right central midfield.. so maybe Right midfield.. but well stopped Georges
maybe wenger wants to see just how good ramsey is up close. he will see him in training this week and then may decide not to replace Flamini directly, but stick with the players he has got. what happened to Bischoff?
Give the boy a break, he’s only 17, why nitpicking what he said? anyone noticed he also said his childhood idol was Roy Keane? so i suppose he wants to be a central midfielder, so what’s wrong aiming one day playing alongside Cesc? or you rather he aiming to sit at the bench ala a SWP at Stamford Bridge?
press conference to reassure fans?
that sounds like to much sense to me, the Arsenal will never do it. They don’t want to set a precedent that will force them to hold a press conference every time a paper prints lies.
I dont think we will be seeing Rambo alongside cesc for quite sometime. Then again he might have a blinding preseason and make it hard for Wenger to drop him…would be funny if he did a ‘Gilberto’ to cesc (ie Flamini cementing his place while Gilberto was resting) while cesc has an extended holiday…doubt it.
Also I remember in a Gallas interview he had a go at one of the kids for asking him advice on what fancy car to buy. Supposedly Gallas told him to forget about fancy cars, worry about his family first etc. I wonder who that Kid was?
You have to get EPL font.
So were talking about players cars etc. Which Arsenal players have hot girlfirends etc. Anyone rival Mr Van Der Vaarts other half?
Frichie, wasn’t that Armand Traore? may have been a myth but I am sure it was him.
He sounds like such a mature, level-headed boy, (like nearly all of Wenger’s buys)! Also, it sounds like since his footballing idol is Roy Keane, and he mentioned playing alongside Cesc, his future role will be CM, and a Flamini replacement.
What a class act. The future will be bright for any talented player with an attitude like his.
Hmm, this interview shows he has a level head…but I am a little worried he will join Man Utd after a couple of years of getting “formed” at Arsenal…
:s
Trevor B.If what you say is true how comes we have problems holding on to our level headed players.
Nice article mate, he sounds sensible enough. give him a pay rise
“But once I had spoken to Arsene Wenger, the way he described the Arsenal set-up and their plans for the future impressed me.”
This is the most important part.
well im just happy adebayor aint going, proving that we aint a selling club and that we are determined to keep our players with even our chairman commenting on the matter.
When you say “bigger and better things lay ahead for Aaron” do you mean he will go to ManU in 3 years time? Probably how AW convinced him to sign
“Listen Aaron,ManU will put you in the reserves and then you will be sold to Chesterfield after a loan spell, but here at Arsenal we need to develop players so we can sell you on to bigger and better club for loads of money to pay off the stadium debts. You wont win anything here but I promise I will make you a star and in 3 years sell you to ManU for 25m. Deal?”
We are a selling club Arsene Wenger said so on saturday
wow .. nice addition for the young guns .. !
Did he Kent Paul?
Don’t beleive everything you read. Especially from the NOTW.
Supermatty, I was mainly referring to the ones that Wenger buys when they’re really young (16,17,18). These players are all startlingly mature for their age, and have a distinct sense of respect, humility, and loyalty it seems. Clichy, Walcott, Fabregas, and now Ramsey (maybe Nasri too) have all been examples of this.
Hell yeah, Ms. Van der Vaart is freaking hot. Look up Sylvie Meis on google. You will not be disappointed.
what happened to Bischoff?
gazzap said this on July 7, 2008 at 1:03 pm
We can only hope that he doesn’t sign lol. But if he does sign, then I’m sure he can’t be that bad if Wenger thinks we should get him. Personally, I wouldnt like him to come – but it would be on a free anyway, so who cares.
Ramsey seems to have a great attitude for a person his age, and it will be interesting to see how much he progresses next season
Nasri will wengers last buy of the summer. to be later confirmed tooday at the press confrence.
What happened to Torrick Jibril did Athletico Madrid sign him
at the meeting with european clubs today, a quote was said that the 6 + 5 rule is unlikely to happen.
“THE BUMPING CRUSADE”
Lol…even Wenger dont know who will be his last buy of the summer mate. I got this funny feeling that what the NOTW said was true but that aint the big picture. Wenger, even though he’s calmed down a bit right now, was FUMING at AC Milan for taking Flamini from us (although i believe he was more fuming at Flamini for constantly saying he will stay and then end up leaving). Then AC enquired about Ade, got rebuffed and then made it their primary goal to unsettle Ade with all that bull**** talk they were spewing. This is how the big clubs operate. (I bet even Real Madrid enquired about CR before the end of the season, we just aint being told that). Once they get told “no” by the players’ club they turn to dirty tricks to get their man. So, AC just made AW even angrier with them when they carried on this way so he told them to “fax off”..lol. But they’re relentless in their pursuit and nowadays u need to tell a team/repel their advances about 25 times before they finally get the message simply cos EVERYBODY KNOWS MONEY TALKS. Thats why they can put the pressure on you with all the money they are offering. Then Barca got involved, same dirty tricks. Still, the answer remained the same despite unconvincing comments being attributed to Ade, (which AW wasn’t best pleased with). Then, behind the scenes some time last week, Ade and his PU***HOLE agent met with AW and since then, AW’s stance changed. My guess is that they made it clear to le prof that THEY wanted to move on unless the wage demands were met (whatever they may be). PHW said about a month ago, “I will never bow to player greed”, so what do u think the board’s stance was to Mr Courbis’ demands (PRICK!!). A few days ago, i think in an interview with Arsenal magazine (not sure though) AW gave quite a passionate interview saying he ALWAYS tries to get the best possible deals for his players. Remember? This interview was given in light of the meeting with Ade and was an indirect message for him (except Ade’s so FU**ING THICK that he probably still aint clocked on). The high price tag on Ade’s head is to deter these clubs’ attention cos Wenger didnt wanna sell initially but since this meeting with Ade and his representatives and after Ade’s BLATANT disrespect to AW and the club he has decided to let him leave, but for the RIGHT PRICE. Wenger’s stubborn, we all know that, he wants to milk them for every last penny cos whether we like it or not, we have been BULLIED into selling him and will do so begrudgingly. There’s little or no resistance once the player wants out from his club so thats why these CU**S do this, plus it can lower his value. However, we want around £30m for him and they dont wanna pay that but he will end up going for around £25-£28 cos AW’s had enough, plus we realise (and so does the footballing world) that we will be bumping them. BIG TIME. This will be bigger than the way we BUMPED that PRICK team Real Madrid for Anelka….HAHAHAHAHA. Wenger’s comments in NOTW were a classic case of him playing mind games with these so called “big clubs”. Make them think we’re vulnerable and let them come in for our players one by one. We’ll end up bumping them one by one….we know that we have a LONG LINE of talent coming through the ranks. Even if Nasri comes in, shines for a couple of years and then gets sold to Real Madrid or Barca for about £30-£40m. Watch how there’s no replacement. Either Merida, Wilshere, Barazite or someone will just step into that role. No problem! Now PHW (who’s working with AW here) comes out today and says Ade’s going nowhere. Some time this week, or next….i could be completely wrong of course but i got this funny feeling that we will sell him…just got the feeling AW and the Arsenal board have had enough of these clubs “BULLYING” us and these “MERCENARIES” looking for better deals before they have even done anything of note, and have decided to go on a “BUMPING CRUSADE”. This will either scare off these clubs cos they will fear paying way over the odds for a player which, hopefully, the Adebayor transfer will serve as the lesson or they come in, push us around and get BUMPED!!!!
TJ. You should get your own blog and write articles.
Marca. I doubt that anybody bought that conference thing you said yesterday and people will definitely not been fooled twice. And just to clear it up. WE ARE NOT BUYING ARSHAVIN. There is no way we are, he only wants to go to Barca. Maybe if Barca decide they don´t want him at all, then we could get him. But if Barca continue pursuing their interest, we will never buy Arshavin. I hope we don´t sign Bischoff but we will sign Nasri. I hope we just sign Nasri and a centre back (GK in my wildest dreams) and I will be very happy. This is what I think Wenger´s plan is for the team in the coming years:
Defence: Sagna and Clichy will continue to be the best for at least the next 7 years. Nordveit is our future commanding CB and I think Wenger has hopes for Song to partner him even as soon as the start of next season.
Midfield: Ramsey will fight for his place this year but from next season he will be a starter (that´s why I want Senna, to fill that gap). Ramsey and Cesc can then be the best midfield partners for the next decade. The flanks change more frequently so it´s hard to predict. I think that Theo Walcott will end up making the right flank his own, although I think he is better up front. Nasri might well be the long term replacement for Pires.
Strikers: Bendtner and Vela up front sounds pretty good too me. The problem is that they are both more creative than lethal. Barazite could well be in the long term plans while RvP and Dudu will be at the club for a long time still.
That´s my prediction for the future. It´s almost impossible to say for more than maybe 4 years. We never know who will step up and become great. Maybe next year Wenger will see this totally amazing right back who will outshine Sagna.
Hi guys,
Arsenal will not sign a striker if Ade leaves Walcott will fill his place, in walcotts place will be Vela or Van Persie or Nasri.
What you think Sanderson
I like his attitude, i wasnt as enfusiastic about the buy as most other fans seemed to be at the time simply cuz i rate alot of our midfield talent coming through from the reserves but u cant fault him for the reasons he wanted to come to us and his vision of what he needs to do to make it (work hard to improve and prove his talent to the staff)
As for all the car questions, thats one players car (duno which one, think it might to Gallas cuz he drives a Mclaren SLR and thats what it looks like)
be gallas’*
oh…and i forgot the link aswell…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2rLFnQWqUw
RAMSEY will probably start Carling Cup games and be used as a sub on the wings in PL games.
I don’t think we’re going to buy a FLAMINI replacement.
DENILSON will take the role in my opinion. Wenger has always spoken glowingly of Denislon. He’s a DM who Wenger described as “a mix of Gilberto and Rosicky” which means he’s defnesive minded(loves to tackle and is a ball winner) but can also start attacks, provide some killer passes, and just generally fit our passing game.
Some people believe DIABY is the one to take the place next to Cesc. But he’s too attacking, he’s less defensive than Cesc. Also, note that when DENILSON gets games, it’s almost always in the midde, whereas Wenger only gives Diaby games on the wings.
Denilson is like our Fernando Gago.
Denilson is a walking band aid and has not progressed as a football player since his first season at Arsenal IMO
he’s still only 20 and flamini improved in one season so the same could happen for denilson
no press conference marca :)
is it me or can u see arsene wenger playing a 4-3-3 in the carling cup.
Fabianksi/manone
traore, song, nordveit, hoyte
ramsey,lansbury,randall
wilshere,barazite, vela
With Gilberto said to be leaving, maybe Ramsey will get more chances, because i dont think Wenger would invest in new midfielder.
Neither do i J…
Shame really.. because i i believe it’s a position we desperatly need to improve in central midfield… but lets wait and see
There are no really good defensive mids available right now – and for the right price. Even De La Red….they’re asking £15m for him. Basically, we cant get linked to a player in the press otherwise his price bumps up considerably every time. Remember before Jenas went to the Spuds we enquired about him and Newcastle told us £12m i think. When we dropped out of the race he went there for about £7m (Thank God)
“There are no really good defensive mids available right now – and for the right price. Even De La Red….they’re asking £15m for him.”
None that we’ve heard of (and i do agree with u, no1 comes to mind), but if Wenger wanted to sign some1 hed find some1 and for his price. Therefore if he doesnt u obviously feels we dont need any1, and whilst i agree its not the way it looks from my perspective and from alot of the other fans perpectives, we arent the ones that analyse all the videos, every1s individual performances and conducts the training sessions. Wenger wouldent leave it if he didnt believe he had it covered, and covered well.
J.Sanderson, do you believe Ramsey will begin the season as the starting CM beside Cesc?
Ramsey is older than Cesc was when he held down a regular place in the first team. Do you remember how good Cesc was back then, he was way better than Jenas is today and still only 17. Ramsey is something special and I can honestly see him becoming our main Cesc partner. I don´t want another DM if it doesn´t fit in one of these categories:
– An older player like Senna that could fill in for this season and perhaps the next one.
– An absolute brilliant player that is going to be a first team regular right away and way better than our options are now. Some 22 year old who is barely better than Denilson is only going to slow down the progress of Ramsey and others.
Greetings from Oz. Absolutely brilliant site,JS.
I agree with Nin. Denilson looks as if he’s been earmarked for the role. Probably only needs one big pre season to get the chance. Ramsay will start wide.
Forgive me for digressing a little, but has Arsene Wenger lost his passion and ambition? I mean, does he really want to win the champions league at least one time in his managerial career?
I really do not understand Wenger sometimes you know……Barca want Ade and Hleb, so why don’t we do a swap deal which will see Ronaldinho and some cash coming Arsenal’s way, and Ade going the other, then use the sale of Hleb and the surplus cash from the Ade sale to finance a deal for David Villa or Hunterlaar.
Surely it’s a no brainer, and I am sure JS will agree with me when I say that would be the best and the most lethal pairing in Europe today, and can guarantee Arsenal the double at the very least next season.
i wouldn’t swop lansbury for ronaldinho, never mind ade
Hey think we might to play Ramsey more than i thought when we frist got him cos a few players are want to go now. I cant see why Helb would slate Wenger and Fabregas what the hell is he doing? Why i cant just shut his mouth and go what a twat. About players girlfriend i saw on skysports website Sarah Brandner she is hot, goiin out with a german player. They do anything for the money. What happening with Nasri any1 know if we are still signing him and when? Arsenal!!!!