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‘I felt more wanted by Wenger’
- Updated: November 17, 2016
Ahead of ReUnited this weekend, live on Sky Sports, Aaron Ramsey reveals to Patrick Davison how Arsene Wenger convinced him to join Arsenal instead of Manchester United…
Manchester United might have been a huge part of Aaron Ramsey’s life.
As a boy, with his dad Kevin a United fan, he could quite easily have ended up supporting them. As a player, when Sir Alex Ferguson’s champions came calling, he wasn’t too far away from signing for them.
Instead, it was Cardiff City that became his ‘main team’. The team he would watch and support (though I don’t think he’d disagree if I suggested there was a bit of affection for United).
Instead, it was Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger who persuaded him – via a private jet – to entrust his development to the North London club.
Born in Caerphilly, half an hour north of Cardiff, rugby had been Ramsey’s first love. But as other sports came onto his radar – he played cricket and was a school pentathlon champion in athletics – football began to take centre stage.
His childhood memories of the Premier League come from a time when Arsenal and United were out there on their own as the league’s dominant forces. From an era when the league’s greatest midfield rivalry was raging.
“I always remember it being a tough clash and a massive battle,” says Ramsey, who I suspect, understandably given his dad’s allegiances, might not have been supporting Arsenal back then.
“[Roy] Keane and [Patrick] Vieira, they would just be at each other from the first minute to the last.
“It was like they hated each other and they wanted to go out and be physical and smash into each other.
“But they were really exciting games …
