Arsenal have gone through a huge amount of change since Mikel Arteta took charge over five years ago.
The Spaniard has exercised a level of control not seen in most other Premier League clubs, and while not everything has gone to plan, it would be hard to deny the progress he’s made.
Much of that progress has been thanks to his transfer activity, such as the signings of Declan Rice, David Raya, Kai Havertz and Martin Odegaard.
However, just as important has been the players he’s sold, and while most of his significant sales have come in the last year or so, he sanctioned the sizable exit of a former Hale Ender in 2021 who was once tipped to be the side’s new Aaron Ramsey.
Ramsey's Arsenal career
Yes, the player in question was once compared to cult hero Ramsey, and before getting to him, it’s worth looking at the Welshman’s time in North London.
The dynamic midfielder joined the Gunners for around £5m in June 2008 from Cardiff City and did so despite interest from Manchester United due to the influence of the legendary Arsène Wenger.
Now, you cannot talk about the Caerphilly-born ace’s 11 years as an Arsenal player without going over his dreadful double-leg break against Stoke City in 2010, as it kept him out of action for almost a year and significantly slowed his development.
However, after coming through that, going out on a couple of loan spells and slowly getting back to his best, the 34-year-old established himself as an important player for the side, and in certain seasons he reached a level that few of Wenger’s other players did during that period for the club.
For example, in the 13/14 season, he was near enough unstoppable in some games, and ended the campaign with a sensational haul of 16 goals and nine assists in just 34 appearances, most of which came from central midfield.
Moreover, he scored the winning goal in the FA Cup final against Hull City that year to end the club’s trophy drought, and then scored another winner in the 2017 final against London rivals Chelsea.
By the time he left the Emirates to join Juventus in the summer of 2019, Ramsey had made a staggering 369 appearances, scoring 64 goals, providing 60 assists, and winning three FA Cups and three Community Shields.
Appearances
369
Minutes
23979′
Goals
64
Assists
60
Goal Involvements per Match
0.33
Minutes per Goal Involvement
193.37′
In all, the Welsh international remains a criminally underrated part of the later Wenger years, and, at one point, one of the club’s former academy gems was even touted to follow in his footsteps before Arteta sold him.
Arsenal's next Ramsey
Nowadays, every other player coming out of Hale End seems good enough to star for the first team, with the likes of Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly currently on the road to being superstars.
Unfortunately, despite impressing here and there and even being described as “special” by Arteta, that was not the case for Joe Willock.
The academy graduate made his debut for the first team in the 17/18 campaign and, over the next three years or so, would go on to make 78 appearances, mostly from the middle of the park, in which he scored 11 goals and provided four assists.
It was this ability to influence the attack while doing the dirty work of a central midfielder that led the late great Kevin Campbell to compare him to Ramsey in an interview in November 2020.
“Joe Willock, I am telling you now, you can see that he’s starting to grow into that role when he comes into the team now. He’s a striker’s dream. Honestly, when he plays and with Lacazette, he would make Lacazette’s job 50 per cent easier, because he runs beyond, a bit like how Ramsey used to.”
The former Arsenal star described the midfielder as a “striker’s dream” because of the way he used to run beyond, “a bit like how Ramsey used to.”
Appearances
78
Minutes
3630′
Goals
11
Assists
4
Goal Involvements per Match
0.19
Minutes per Goal Involvement
242′
However, while the positional and stylistic similarities were there, the young Englishman couldn’t have quite the same impact.
He was eventually sent on loan to Newcastle United for the latter half of the 20/21 season and sold to the Magpies for around £25m that summer.
Ultimately, the Hale Ender has since found a home at St James’ Park and remains a key part of the team – he even scored against the Gunners last season – but given how far Arsenal have progressed, his sale was probably for the best.
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