Raul Sanllehi has made it clear in an open discussion with Arsenal’s fans that no player will ever be allowed to leave the club for a price lower than their original value.
The issue was brought up at a fan’s forum after several of the club’s loyal supporters were left questioning the running of the club in terms of handling players and their contracts. Aaron Ramsey was the player in question, after the Welshman was allowed to run his contract down and leave the club for absolutely nothing in the summer.
Ramsey was keen on signing a new contract to extend his stay at the Emirates beyond the 11-year mark. However, the club opted to withdraw their offer after the club’s owner, Stan Kroenke, ordered Sanllehi and Vinai Venkatesham to get the club’s wage structure in order. Naturally, that had an effect on Ramsey’s contract situation, with the midfielder having been set for a pay rise.
If the club were to make a firm decision on the player’s future, it should have been done before the summer transfer window and before the contract was offered in the first place. However, the club decided to pull the plug on a new contract for the 27-year-old only after last summer’s transfer window closed, meaning yet another one of Arsenal’s best and most important players would be leaving them in a window for absolutely nothing.
Ramsey’s entire situation is a just a different circumstance of a similar outcome at Arsenal, with a number of key players leaving them for free over the years. Alexis Sanchez, Samir Nasri, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Bacary Sagna and Robin van Persie have all the left the club for nothing, to Premier League rivals as well.
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With Ramsey now hitting his prime at 27, it seems baffling that Arsenal would allow such an important player of his quality to just leave. Following a lot of skepticism from fans, Sanllehi made it clear that the Gunners will not allow this to happen again in the foreseeable future. With that in mind, he also addressed the concerns over the contracts of some key players at the club.
According to football.london, the likes of Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Mesut Ozil, Sokratis, Shkodran Mustafi and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang all have contracts expiring in two years, during the summer of 2021. Hence, Sanllehi confirmed that a decision on their futures at the club would be made in the coming weeks in order to avoid another player who could earn them quite a lot of money just depart for free.
