- Manchester United were close to signing Ramsey in 2008
- Club posted transfer agreement on website
- Welshman went on to become an Arsenal icon
With the news of Aaron Ramsey’s retirement breaking this week, Manchester United fans find themselves humming a familiar Katy Perry tune.
The song titled ‘The One That Got Away’ tells the story of a wealthy elderly woman reflecting on her youth. She is haunted by the ghost of a lover she lost. To her, no amount of money or success can buy a time machine to bring him back.
It is a fitting soundtrack for United’s relationship with the Welshman. When the club website famously posted that a fee had been agreed with Cardiff City for a 17-year-old Ramsey in 2008, few fans blinked twice about the failed move. Arsene Wenger intervened ten days after the article was published, whisking the teenager to North London instead.
Ramsey made 369 appearances and scored the winning goals in two of his three FA Cup triumphs with the Gunners. As he hangs up his boots permanently, would he have been the answer to Manchester United’s ageing midfield problems all those years ago?
The One That Got Away from Fergie
There weren’t too many times that Wenger got the better of Ferguson in the late 2000’s, but this was one of them.
Speaking in 2023, Dave Jones, who managed at Cardiff between 2005 and 2011, said that even he wanted Ramsey to join the Red Devils.
He said: “I don’t think he completed 20 games for us before Arsenal and Manchester United kept calling for him. As a personal preference, I wanted him to go to Manchester United because Sir Alex was going to let me have him back [on loan].
“But I knew if he went to Arsenal, Arsene Wenger would play him.”
In the end, it was Ramsey who rejected the chance to play at Old Trafford to make the move to London instead. It is hard to say that it didn’t work out for him. However, you can only imagine just how much better it could have been at United.
Ramsey was able to station himself in Arsenal’s midfield as a number six, an eight and even on the right wing in his prime years. His presence would have solved a lot of problems during the last few years of Fergie’s reign.
Butterfly Effect
That £5m would have saved the Reds a ton of headaches for the best part of a decade before injuries caught up to the Welshman himself.
In 2011, Darren Fletcher was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis which consequently limited his playing career for an extended period from 2010. Paul Scholes retired in 2011, before making a short comeback at Ferguson’s request. Ryan Giggs was also deployed in central midfield in his twilight years.
Anderson was patchy, Darron Gibson never established himself and United missed the boat on Paul Pogba the first time around. United thought they hit the jackpot with Tom Cleverley, but injuries quickly derailed his influence. Even after Ferguson’s retirement, United trialled and tested with Marouane Fellaini, Daley Blind and Ander Herrera.
Nevertheless, the reality was never that bleak for United between 2008 and 2013. The cracks only showed after. Ferguson’s relentless winning machine churned out three Premier League titles and two Champions League final appearances while the Gunners endured a painful trophy drought until 2014.
In the end, United didn’t need a time machine to find success. They already had the trophies to prove it.
