Ramsey has yet to make any progress in talks with the Gunners who are reluctant to double his current £110,000-a-week wages as the player wants. Arsenal face a race against time to reach an agreement with Ramsey able to talk to foreign clubs from January 1 with the north London outfit potentially risking losing the midfielder for free.
They faced a similar saga with play-maker Ozil, whose deal had just six months left to run when he signed a new extension that made him the highest-paid player in the club’s history on £350,000-a-week before tax.That’s despite the German World Cup winner having been widely criticised for his performances last season with his work ethic often questioned.
And Wright – who scored 185 goals in 288 games in seven seasons at Arsenal – believes Ramsey is right to hold out for the terms he wants given the treatment Ozil received.That’s despite claims saying that Ramsey has been informed by the club that the Ozil deal does not represent a benchmark and is rather a unique situation because of his marketability.
“The thing is, Ramsey and the contract situation – I’m desperate for him to sign. Use him until he doesn’t sign but if he doesn’t, and why should he?” Wright said. “His agents will probably be saying that we saw Ozil strung it out and we’re not talking about someone who’s been pulling up trees for Arsenal. And he got exactly what he wanted, so why should Ramsey not try and do the same thing?”
Former Chelsea midfielder Dennis Wise agreed with Wright and added that Unai Emery’s treatment of the Wales international could help force Ramsey into a decision.
Ramsey played just 53 minutes of Arsenal’s opening match, a 2-0 defeat to defending champions Manchester City, before being substituted off for Alexandre Lacazette.
And he dropped to the bench for the trip to Chelsea, only coming on for the final 22 minutes and replacing another disappointing performer in Ozil.
That was after starting from the bench just three times in the Premier League under Arsene Wenger last season, with two of those occasions coming in his first game back from injuries and the other match being the first game of the campaign.
Arsenal take on West Ham tomorrow (3pm) looking for their first win of the season and hoping to avoid back-to-back home defeats in the Premier League for the first time since 2011.