Arsene Wenger is confident Aaron Ramsey will stay

Although Jack Wilshere’s expiring deal has grabbed more of the headlines recently, Arsenal faces a more pressing situation with Aaron Ramsey, who will enter next season with just one year left on his deal. Yes, Wilshere’s contract ends 12 months before Ramsey’s, but can anyone really argue at this point that Wilshere is even close to Ramsey in terms of value to this team?

Following Thursday’s 4-1 win over CSKA Moscow, a game in which a dominant Ramsey scored twice, Arsene Wenger spoke publicly about the midfielder’s future at the club:

“Yes, I’m confident [in Ramsey staying]. He’s not at the end of his contract, he has one and a half years to go. We are communicating.”

”On my side that is clear [that he should stay]. But you have always to find agreements. We want him to stay because he’s one of the guys who has been here for a long time and will be an important player in the future for the club.

”We do not want to convince [someone to stay], we want the players to be happy to play for the club, and the players who want to stay here and play for the club [do so because of] the way we play football and with the values we think are important for us.

”And with the right amount of money we want to pay them. All the three have to be together.”

While none of Wenger’s comments are all that surprising, it’s encouraging to see communication between the two sides has begun. This summer could be pivotal: Ramsey will be in the spotlight at the World Cup, and some at Arsenal will likely be hesitant to let Ramsey enter the season with just one year left, à la the Alexis Sanchez saga.

Arsenal need a lot of reinforcements to get back to the top of the Premier League, but locking up Aaron Ramsey long-term should be right at the top of their to-do list.