The fervour surrounding Aaron Ramsey is reaching unprecedented levels, and with every sensational performance comes another wave of praise.
Jack Wilshere’s return to fitness, Olivier Giroud’s return to form and the acquisition of Mesut Ozil have all been extremely news-worthy, but nothing trumps the rise of Wales’ next superstar.
That he was rested for Arsenal’s home demolition of Norwich City this weekend spelt out two undeniable facts: first that the Canaries are rather beatable, and second that Ramsey is now the “one” that Arsene Wenger wants to keep fresh.
He made it onto the pitch anyway following Mathieu Flamini’s concussion, and proceeded to put in his best performance to date. Dazzling feet, silky skills and drag-backs galore, Ramsey tore the Canaries apart to the tune of one goal and one assist.
Such form and performances have prompted every available extreme to be placed on the young man’s head when assessing his talent: One man will turn his nose up, the next sees the new Zinedine Zidane.
It prompts the question: Just how good is Aaron Ramsey, and how good can he become?
Arsenal aficionados are not surprised by the Welshman’s sudden upturn in form. He was playing at a similar level for the final six weeks of the 2012-13 season, having finally found confidence after being moved back into a central midfield position.
Ramsey was lambasted for his performances on the right side of midfield, but is it really fair to criticise a player who is so clearly built for a central role filling in where his manager has asked him to?
That’s the memory the lay fan has of his previous season: fumbling his way down the touchline, failing to beat full-backs and miscuing simple passes. Was it right to place a player who has such horrendous confidence issues—sourced from the leg break at the Britannia Stadium—in such an unfamiliar role?
He said it himself on BBC’s Match of the Day in an interview with Gary Lineker: “Now I’m playing as a central midfielder—my position—I’m enjoying my football.”
Up until the Borussia Dortmund game he hadn’t put a foot wrong, acing every pass, completing every dribble and converting every chance.
But on Tuesday night at the Emirates Stadium, he took too many touches on the edge of his own box and Henrikh Mkhitaryan punished him with the opening goal. Ramsey looked shell-shocked; as if the thought of doing something detrimental to his team was no longer an option for him.
And then it hits home: he’s 22 years of age, and despite being around the game for so long, spent over a year out with an injury and is still playing catchup.
Honeymoon periods occur in football, and Ramsey will face a heavily scrutinised three weeks as fans check to see if he’s about to regress once again.
All these variables—the horrific injury, the missed time and the patches of form—make his ceiling hard to predict, but should he make it through to Christmas in current form, we can safely go back to what we were saying when he secured his £5 million move from Cardiff City to Arsenal.
No hyperbole, no bandwagonning: Ramsey is destined to become one of the best and most complete players in world football.
