AARON RAMSEY has played his last game for Arsenal. The Gunners legend, 28, has no chance of a fairytale farewell appearance in a potential Europa League Cup final in Baku on May 29 after being told by specialists his season is over. The news will come as a devastating blow to Arsenal fans and manager […]
AARON RAMSEY has played his last game for Arsenal.
The Gunners legend, 28, has no chance of a fairytale farewell appearance in a potential Europa League Cup final in Baku on May 29 after being told by specialists his season is over.
The news will come as a devastating blow to Arsenal fans and manager Unai Emery ahead of tomorrow’s crunch semi-final first-leg tie against Valencia.
The Juventus-bound Welshman was never expected to feature in this week’s tie after tearing a hamstring during Arsenal’s quarter-final second-leg win over Napoli on April 18.
But it was hoped Rambo could be in contention for a place on the bench in the return leg in Spain, on May 9, with Arsenal’s last Premier League game of the season at Burnley three days later pencilled in for Ramsey’s return to action.
However, the gutted midfielder had injury re-assessed last week and the news he was dreading was confirmed.
Although the tear is not as severe as Arsenal docs feared — and does not require surgery — it is season-ending and will take around two months to heal.
Agonisingly, for Ramsey, the Europa League final takes place at the end of May, robbing him of the perfect send-off he desperately wanted to bring down the curtain on his stellar 11-year Arsenal career.
The gutted Gunners midfielder had dreamed of a potential Europa League final against London rivals Chelsea — the team he put to the sword in the 2017 FA Cup final.
He would have loved to have finished his Arsenal career on a huge high by helping Emery to more Europa League glory while adding a European trophy to his three FA Cup wins.
Ramsey will go down in Arsenal history as the Wembley wizard who scored the winning goal in two FA Cup finals, against Hull City in 2014 and Chelsea in 2017.
However, in one of the most baffling decisions in the club’s history, club chiefs allowed Ramsey’s contract to run down.
And then they allowed their longest-serving player to slip through their fingers just as he was on the brink of agreeing a bumper new £250,000-a-week deal.
Italian giants Juventus fought off some of the biggest clubs on the continent, including Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona to snap up Arsenal’s key midfielder on a free transfer.
They will pay Ramsey a staggering £400,000 a week to compensate him for leaving the club he wanted to stay at.
Arsenal’s stuttering end to the season saw them lose their latest game, going down 3-0 at Leicester on Sunday to further damage their hopes of a top-four finish.
