Arsenal are desperate to keep Aaron Ramsey at the club but face the prospect of paying over the odds in order to keep him, according to the Daily Mail.
The newspaper claim that after giving Mesut Ozil a new contract which seems him earn £350,000-a-week, along with handing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrik Mkhitryan deals that see them get in the region of £200,000-a-week, players such as Ramsey expect huge pay rises.
The Daily Mail report that the Gunners have accelerated talks with Ramsey over a new contract as they wish to keep him at the club.
According to the report, the 27-year-old currently earns £110,000-per-week and has 18 months left on his current deal.
The newspaper also claim that the Gunners could be forced to sell Ramsey in the summer if they fail to get him to sign a new contract, to ensure he doesn’t leave for free when his contract ends in 2019.
The attacking midfielder has played 19 times across all competitions this season and scored a hat-trick in Arsenal’s last game against Everton, which helped them win 5-1.
OPINION
Ramsey certainly looked like a player Arsenal should hand a new deal to based on his performance against Everton on Saturday. However, the Gunners shouldn’t be forced to pay him a ridiculous amount in order to keep him. While the Welsh international is a great player to have at the club, he doesn’t deserve to be earning a wages anyway near the level of Ozil, Aubameyang or Mkhitryan. Ramsey’s performances for Arsenal over the years could justify a wage above £110,000-a-week but it shouldn’t be too much more than that. If a deal can’t be reached then the Gunners would be right to sell him in the summer in order to get a transfer fee for his services.