Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey is set to return to the Emirates Stadium ahead over Manchester City’s visit tonight after completing a successful loan spell at Nottingham Forest. However, is Wenger right to bring the 20-year-old back so soon? Or should he have extended the Welshman’s stay at Forest a little longer?
Ramsey joined the Championship side in November in a bid to gain valuable playing time, and most importantly, to achieve match fitness after recovering from a horrific leg break last year.
Despite the bad weather during the Christmas period, which restricted the Welsh midfielder to just 5 appearances (2 starts, 3 from the bench) in 5 weeks at the City Ground, Billy Davies believes the move was a successful one. He told the official Forest website:
‘Aaron has been a pleasure to have about the place. From working with him on a daily basis it’s clear to see he has a wonderful future ahead of him.’
Davies goes on to say:
‘He has been not only a credit to himself in the time that he’s been with us, but also a credit to Arsenal. Unfortunately, we haven’t seen as much of him in action as we had hoped because of the weather.’
The Welshman played his last game for Forest on Monday which resulted in a 1-0 victory over Ipswich. However, the most satisfying thing to hear (for Arsenal fans especially) was that Ramsey was able to last the whole 90 minutes, something which hasn’t been seen since Arsenal’s 2-0 win over Sunderland which occurred on the 20th of February 2010.
Wenger has opted not to extend the midfielder’s loan spell, even though he believes that Ramsey is still not completely ready to take on the Premier League. Speaking on December 31st, Wenger told the official Arsenal website:
‘Aaron is not completely ready yet [for the Premier League] but he has been practising every day with the group for two months. I hope that when he comes back he should be ready in February.’
In my opinion, I feel Wenger should have extended Ramsey’s loan spell. I can’t see the 20-year-old playing much football for the Gunners this season, and due to poor weather conditions this winter, the Welsh international didn’t get as much games as he would have liked under his belt. Even with Abou Diaby out with yet another injury, I think Ramsey will struggle to force his way into a very congested Arsenal midfield, especially one that seems to have gelled well this season.
Wenger should definitely seek another loan move for the youngster (preferably a one month or two month spell in the Championship) as it would be beneficial for him to gain additional match fitness and game time. However, if Wenger believes Aaron Ramsey will feature in the Arsenal line-up by February, then it’s the right call to end his loan spell at Forest.
I for one hope to see the young midfielder pull on the Arsenal jersey before the end of the season, but if this doesn’t occur, then the Frenchman’s decision to bring him back to the Emirates so soon was absolutely pointless.
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