Aaron Ramsey came off injured once again during Rangers 2-1 Old Firm Scottish Cup Semi Final win last month, clutching his hamstring.
Everyone knows the severity of hamstring injuries, and it may very well be the case that his season is over.
Should his injuries deter Rangers from signing him up for another season?
Absolutely not.
As we reported last week, the Welshman has played sparingly, but we know that when he is used, he can be a threat, as we told you last week.
I can already hear the opposition to this…
He’s always injured and never plays! He’s not the player he once was! He’ll hinder younger player’s development like Lowry!
Well, let me address all those points.
Injuries
In reference to his injuries, yes, clearly that is an issue, but he does play, and he has played, and when he plays, he does well.
Shouldn’t we be judging a player more on his output rather than how often he plays?
Isn’t it better for us to have a player that can perform well in 50% of the games across a season rather than a player that is average play every game of the season?
He doesn’t want to be injured and not play games, in fact, surely him bringing in medical staff at his own expense shows his commitment to the cause.
That’s the type of player you want at the club.
He’s not the player he once was
Was anyone expecting him to be?
We’ve seen Aaron Ramsey perform at the highest level in football for nearly a decade now, with top clubs in England and Italy as well as performing at major international tournaments.
If this was the Aaron Ramsey of old, he wouldn’t be signing for Rangers, but it isn’t so it’s unfair to judge him on his previous performances for other clubs and compare it.
We need to accept that he isn’t the same player but realise that if we can even get a small percentage of those old performances out of him then it would be worth it?
I certainly believe that.
He’ll hamper younger players’ development
In my opinion, if a young player is good enough to be playing for Rangers then he would be playing ahead of Aaron Ramsey.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst doesn’t seem the type of manager to pick players based on pity or past heroics and if Lowry et al was good enough to play then he would be regardless of Ramsey’s contract.
It’s also a positive to have Ramsey around and Lowry learning off someone with his experience, helping nurture his talent.
Ramsey has shown in his short period at Ibrox that he can still compete, he has played in most of our high-profile games and has performed well.
We know that he won’t be available for every game, but we’ve seen the importance of having Ryan Jack in a similar role as Ramsey for big fixtures and look how well that has worked.
Of course, we must ensure that we are not overspending on Ramsey and ensure that any deal done is financially viable, but if it is – why shouldn’t we sign him?
Ramsey is worth a shot, it’s time we gave him that chance.
