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Arsenal’s head of football Raul Sanllehi has revealed the reason the club failed to agree a new contract for Aaron Ramsey.
The Welshman has played his last game for Arsenal following a hamstring strain suffered in the Europa League quarter-final win over Napoli last month.
Ramsey, who’s to link up with his new Juventus teammates next month, will now watch from the sidelines when the Gunners take on Chelsea in the final on Wednesday.
Things could have been different for the Wales international. He was locked in contract negotiations with Arsenal for some time ahead of his current deal expiring in June 2019.
Aaron Ramsey set to leave Arsenal after 11 years at the club
However, after extensive talks, the club pulled out of talks after being unable to agree on how much Ramsey should be paid.
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, referring to the “incredible” offers Arsenal were not able to compete with.
“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.
Ramsey played 360 times for the Gunners
“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.
“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.”
