Arsenal’s head of football Raul Sanllehi has opened up on the mistakes made by the club while trying to keep hold of Aaron Ramsey.
The Wales international was in contract negotiations with the Gunners for some time ahead of his current deal expiring in June 2019.
But after extensive talks between the club and the player’s agent, the two parties were unable to come to an agreement over how much Ramsey should be paid.
Juventus saw their opportunity to swoop for the Welshman and sign him on a free this summer, and offered Ramsey a staggering £400,000-a-week deal.
(Image: PA)
Ramsey accepted the contract and will join Juventus following Arsenal’s Europa League final clash with Chelsea, which he is unable to play in due to injury.
Speaking about the Ramsey situation on Arsenal’s website, Sanllehi has opened up on how the club failed to offer the midfielder a contract extension quickly enough.
He explains how this saw interest in Ramsey grow and made tying him down to a new deal very difficult as “incredible” offers from other clubs – offers that Arsenal couldn’t match – were also on the table.
(Image: PA)
“One of the key things for me – and I’ve seen that happening in other clubs – one of the key things is to keep the rationality in the salary balance of the team,” Sanllehi told Arsenal’s website.
“Because of our circumstances, because of not renewing Aaron on time, we were in a situation in which Aaron had incredible offers building up on the salary.
(Image: AFP/Getty Images)
“He was really keen on staying with us, he was ready to make the effort but at the end of the whole process we had to be responsible for ourselves and protect the interests of Arsenal.
“We realised we were going to cause an imbalance that would have been very harmful for the team’s sake in the medium and longer term.”
