Could Aaron Ramsey become an Arsenal great?

With the 4-2-3-1 being the vogue formation to play at the moment and Aaron Ramsey in the midst of a hot-streak, I thought I would look over his short career and see what kind of player he could become if he carries on this form.

Now I still know people who are adamant that Ramsey isn’t a good player. I have made them well aware of how well he has played and the stats of how many goals he has scored this season, and they still refuse to believe he’s a decent player all because of some performances from last season.

Admittedly, he was poor at times last year, but with him being mainly farmed out as a left winger is the main cause of it, which a lot of people including many Arsenal fans failed to realise and thus slated him to the point of calling him “past his best” already at the age of 21? Do me a favour. The worst being Piers Morgan on Twitter, calling for him to be sold last year and then today tweeting how glad he is that he stood his side all this time, leading to a flurry of abuse aimed at Morgan, mainly by Arsenal fans, too.

With a leg break like Ramsey suffered back in 2010, he has recently admitted that the repercussions of the tackle by Shawcross has finally faded, and if this is an Aaron Ramsey who is fully physically and mentally fit and is still in his early twenties, it’s scary to think how good he could become.

As an Arsenal fan myself, it brings a smile to my face when I see Ramsey receiving all the plaudits from the press and Shawcross, who was in the England frame at the time of the incident in 2010 being regularly excluded from the international squad. It’s funny how these things work out sometimes, isn’t it?

In the recent weeks Ramsey has been absolutely crucial to the team with a flurry of goals, seven goals in eight shots, and has formed a tough tackling central midfield partnership with Mathieu Flamini, and it’s been awhile since Arsenal have had a two in midfield who can actually tackle and are not made out of glass. I’m looking at you, Diaby and Wilshere.

It seems with the 4-2-3-1 formation are playing at the moment, Wenger has deployed Ramsey as the pivot in the two defensive midfielders and with the engine he has got and an ever increasing passing range. He has got all the assets to become one of the best players at Arsenal. It’s evident Arsene Wenger is a fan of Bayern Munich and is attempting to forge Ramsey into an emulation of Javi Martinez or a Sergio Busquets of Barca. Wenger once said that once he starts scoring, he won't stop, and it doesn't look like he will for a while. So if he can solidify he defensive capablities like Busquets and Martinez and scoring goals, surely he could be world class?

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Comments

[ArsenalFan]

As an Arsenal fan myself, I'd like to say let's play game after game he's only 22 and showing some class performences. I can only say he's what we need on midfield, box to box midfielder...

[AmericanGunnerFan]

Now that Ramsey has recovered both mentally and physically from his horrific injury, he does have a chance to become an elite-level player if he continues to be used in the right positions.

Ramsey must be used at the base of the midfield triangle, he cannot be used at the top of that triangle because he lacks that little extra bit of vision and creativity that separates the great playmakers, like Xavi, from the rest. He also lacks the sheer foot-speed to play that far forward or on the wing and still get back defensively on a consistent basis. However, when used at the base of the midfield triangle, Ramsey has shown this season that he can be an excellent all-around force in the midfield. If he learns to be a little less reckless and more clinical in the challenge and a bit calmer on the ball, he could very well become a player not unlike Busquets.

But, at this point, only time will tell. Ramsey is only 22 and still is developing and should get better overall over the next couple of seasons. Right now, he is off to what is almost a "dream" start to his season and can't be expected to maintain his current goal-scoring form. What will be critical will be how well he is able to sustain his all-around game through the rigors of what is still going to be a long season. It would be unfair to label him an elite-level player based on this start, even if he is showing the potential to reach that level. But, at the same time, it would also be equally unfair not to acknowledge both his recovery and his potential to reach that level as demonstrated by this start.

Without a doubt Ramsey is an extremely valuable player for Arsenal to have. Hopefully what we are seeing from him now is the beginning of a young player blossoming into a star. Certainly he is playing at a far higher level now than at any time last season. Let's see how much of this level of play he can sustain over the course of this season, though, before we evaluate where he is at in terms of his development. Let's hope that Wenger will be able to leave him in the position that he has been successful and not be tempted to play him in other positions on the pitch where he is less suited to play.