Aaron Ramsey was born on 26
December 1990 in Caerphilly, South Wales. Having played football for Cardiff
City in the youth team set up since the age of 9, he burst onto the
professional scene at the age of 16 years and 124 days when he made his debut
for the First team, making him the youngest ever player to turn out for the
Bluebirds.
Excitement surrounded this
youngster, who was earmarked as a star of the future and no doubt a future
Welsh International with bags of potential. Aaron’s earliest achievement would
have been featuring for Cardiff in the FA Cup final of 2008, where they bravely
lost to Portsmouth 1-0.
It wasn’t just Wales that were
keeping an eye on this promising youngster, but a number of big clubs from the
Premier League were taking notes on his development. In the summer of 2008
Arsenal snapped up this talented youngster, fending off interest from the likes
of Manchester United to secure his signature.
In November 2008, Aaron made his
debut for the Welsh national team at the age of 17, lining up against Denmark,
another record was broken making him the youngest player to play for Wales
since Chris Gunter.
In his first season with the
Gunners, Aaron made a total of 22 appearances for the club in all competitions,
even bagging his first goal in a Champions League tie against Fenerbahçe
in an impressive 5-2 victory.
Ramsey’s
second season with Arsenal was probably the most difficult of his professional
career. He started off well continuing to impress when called upon, making his
first start in the league for Arsenal and scoring his first goal in a victory
against Portsmouth in a 4-1 victory, a goal which no doubt meant a lot to Aaron
considering Portsmouth were the team that beat former club Cardiff in the 2008
FA Cup final. However, this early success and taste of first team football with
Arsenal was soon tainted when Arsenal met Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium
in February 2010. A crunching and dangerous tackle by Stoke defender Ryan
Shawcross caused Aaron to sustain a double leg fracture, this could have been a
career ending tackle. Aaron’s season was over.
Aaron began a period of recovery
and rehabilitation and in March 2010 he was able to walk without the use of
crutches. Arsenal rewarded this exciting youngster with a new long term
contract early on in the summer of 2010, reaffirming the faith they had in his
talent. He continued his recovery from injury, eventually returning to first
team training towards the end of 2010.
In November 2010, Ramsey was
loaned to Championship side Nottingham Forest in a bid to regain match fitness
for a period of around 2 months. Aaron managed 5 appearances during this period
before returning to his parent club. Aaron then returned to boyhood club
Cardiff City on loan where continued his recovery, after just a month on loan
he returned to Arsenal to see out the remainder of the 2010-11 season. Making 8
appearances and grabbing 1 goal.
For all who saw the potential and
exciting player that Aaron was prior to his injury, the difference in the
player that returned was all to clear to see. A huge lack of confidence, fear
of going into a challenge and a general look of bewilderment on the field of
play was prominent. This once gifted player appeared to have been overshadowed
by what can only be described as a shell of a man. The demise of this player
was extremely sad and there were great concerns as to whether he would return
to his former self.
Despite this clear downward
spiral one person who showed great faith in Aaron was the late Gary Speed. The
then Welsh national team manger handed Aaron the Captaincy of Wales making him
the youngest ever captain aged just 20 years and 90 days. He scored his first
goal as captain in the Nations cup match against Northern Ireland in May 2011.
The 2011/12 season saw Aaron
Ramsey return to the first team set up, fully fit and ready to go. Despite
making nearly 45 appearances during the season and scoring 3 goals, the Arsenal
fans were not seeing the player they expected when he signed back in 2008.
The 2012/13 continued in the
same way as the previous nearly 50 appearances for the first team and 2 goals,
but this player was seriously lacking in confidence and the fans were beginning
to turn on him, quite unfairly I have to say. In October 2012, Aaron was
replaced as Captain of Wales by Swansea’s Ashley Williams by manager Chris
Coleman. All signs were indicating to him not making it at Arsenal, the bell
was about to toll and then something miraculous happened, the superstar player
emerged or re-emerged should we say?
Aaron started the 2013/14 season
with a bang scoring in the Champions League qualifier against Fenerbahçe,
the team he scored his first ever goal for Arsenal against. He then went on to
score another 2 goals in the return leg, helping Arsenal to secure Champions
League football for another season.
Ramsey’s
fine form continued grabbing goals against Sunderland, Marseille and Swansea as
well as securing a number of Man of the Match awards for his box to box
midfield performances. The confidence in this young lad had returned and
Arsenal were benefitting.
In
December 2013, Aaron suffered a thigh strain during the match against West Ham
(ironically on his birthday). At the time of the injury Arsenal were top of the
league and really pushing for their first trophy in nearly 10 years. During
this 3 month injury lay-off Arsenal lost the top spot in the Premier League and
crashed out of the Champions League, a coincidence? I think not, Aaron’s
influence on the field was invaluable and Arsenal missed him.
Aaron
returned from injury for the title run in (although Arsenal were considered out
of the running by this stage). In April 2014, Aaron was shortlisted for the PFA
Young Player of the Year award, a title won by fellow Welshman Gareth Bale the
previous year.
Despite
missing out on the PFA Young Player of the Year award, Aaron did have something
to celebrate. On the 17th of May 2014 Ramsey lined up for Arsenal in
the FA Cup final against Hull City. Things didn’t quite go to plan with Arsenal
going 2-0 down In the match very early on. Arsenal managed to get back on level
terms and in the 109th minute of the match Aaron Ramsey scored the
winning goal and secured his first trophy as a player, the first trophy for
Arsenal in 9 years and the Man of the Match award. Aaron was then voted
Arsenal’s player of the season and rightfully so. What a turnaround for this
young player.
Following
a hugely successful season with Arsenal and a return in confidence, Aaron was
feeling on top of the world. Having seen his International colleague Gareth
Bale immortalised as a Grogg Aaron also wanted a piece of the action, Ramsey
approached the shop and requested that he was Grogged. Richard and the team
seeing this as a huge compliment happily obliged and in January 2014 the work
was well underway.
Aaron
was produced in his Welsh kit and also the kit of his boyhood club Cardiff
City, he also became the first ever Grogg to be created in an Arsenal Kit. For
me I have to say this is my favourite Grogg, being a lifelong Arsenal fan I am
delighted to have him in my collection. A number of former Arsenal players had
been Grogged including former Welsh striker John Hartson and Manchester
United’s Dutch International Robin Van Persie, but no current Arsenal player
had ever been made. I also own the first edition of this Grogg as well which
makes it just that little bit more special.
I
personally am absolutely delighted in the return of confidence and form of
Aaron and look forward to many more seasons watching this fantastic player and
who knows maybe one or more iterations of this youngster in Grogg form.
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| Photographs Courtesy of The World of Groggs |
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| Photographs Courtesy of The World of Groggs |
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| Photographs Courtesy of The World of Groggs |
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