Article on the BBC with the headline asking if Ramsey was undervalued at Arsenal. Seems if anything, we overvalued him, like we do with pretty much all our players. We don't sell. We cling and cling until we sell far below value, or lose them on a free. We should have moved Ramsey on the second it was determined he wouldn't sign (i.e. with 2 years left). We need to stop trying to turn every player into Tony Adams when most are more like Liam Brady. It's OK to sell, it's OK to lose players, and if you get 2-3 good/great years, or a trophy or two, even better. You take the transfer fee and you reinvest, each time hoping to do a bit better.
This whole situation is the result of very idealistic thinking that isn't based in the reality of the world, let alone football. I am choosing to believe that the MO is changing at Arsenal. This time next year we might have a tightly-knit Spanish setup of Sanllehi, Monchi, Cagigao, and Emery who will all leverage their respective resources to make our meager budget last much longer, who will turn over players more quickly, and who will actually prioritize squad building as well as individual player development. Opportunism + long-term planning is the way to go, you've got to do both, and we haven't been doing much of the latter for a long time. For that you need a team of people with different strengths and remits that work together. We do not have that, and we haven't had it for a solid decade. More than anything else, that is the reason our football has suffered. More than tactics and coaching, and more than spending and squad investment, we just don't operate in an effective manner and it shows on the pitch. We can change manager a thousand times and it'll make little difference.
I actually think Players Out is the area that has been most affected by this. We've had our eye on loads of top talents, and even gone in very early to try and sign them up, but could never make it work. If we had realized that we need to keep players moving, we might have actually landed a few of them instead of missing out. We might have had more cash on hand, and more reason/pressure to take a risk. If we can get this side of things working, we might be able to change coaches much more easily and to greater effect, even change technical directors or directors of football as necessary. Right now, the road is unpaved, the avenues just aren't there, and the structure needs time to settle and become more foundational to how we operate. We need to build towards that as much as possible. The whole Ramsey saga is proof of this more than anything.
