Cardiff City can pull off a Ram raid BLAKEY’S BOOTROOM
BLUEBIRDS COLUMNIST NATHAN BLAKE URGES CLUB TO MAKE STUNNING SWOOP FOR OLD BOY AARON... AND HE’S SERIOUS:
I’M going to cut straight to the chase in this column.
Cardiff City should put together a January bid for Aaron Ramsey.
Allow me to explain myself, because I admit this sounds very bold. Some people might call it crazy, but hear me out please.
It’s all about intent, you see. If Cardiff are genuine about staying in this league, they need to put down a marker to other sides.
Signing someone like Ramsey would raise the level at Cardiff significantly and help them become an established Premier League team in time. Add in the fact he’s Welsh, has come through the Cardiff academy, has an affinity with the club and its supporters and you have the perfect storm in my opinion.
Ramsey wouldn’t cost a great deal in terms of a transfer fee – because of his contract situation at Arsenal – but admittedly he would cost them big in wages.
You rarely get the chance to sign someone like Ramsey at a cut price, a genuine top-class star who could take the club up a level or two and attract a higher calibre of player as well. The likes of Sol Bamba, Joe Bennett and Aron Gunnarsson would immediately raise their performance levels if they played and trained alongside Ramsey every week.
This is real. Not fantasy land. How often have we seen clubs make audacious swoops for players, but then it comes off? You can sell him the dream.
And it would be part of a coherent transfer plan.
The contract offer would take into account release clauses if Cardiff are relegated and all that stuff.
The transfer policy would mean signing a couple of other top stars, not as big as Ramsey, but who could play with him.
You know what, even if Cardiff don’t get Ramsey, making a move would at least lay down that marker and show people that the Bluebirds are genuine in the transfer market and about being in the Premier League for years to come.
It could turn Cardiff City into one of this country’s main clubs outside of Manchester, Liverpool and London.
It would turn heads and make people think: ‘Wow, who else are you signing? What else have you got in your locker?’
This has happened before.
Let’s not forget when Craig Bellamy came home to Cardiff when he’d been at Manchester City and Liverpool just before. No-one really believed it could happen, but Bellamy chose to come home.
Who’s to say the same wouldn’t happen with Ramsey?
Earlier still, Cardiff pushed the boat out under Dave Jones to land Robbie Fowler, a huge football name at the time. Again when the speculation first arose Bluebirds fans refused to believe Fowler would drop down a division and come to South Wales. But come he did.
Bellamy drove Cardiff to promotion. Brought a winning mentality and even greater professionalism into the dressing room from his years at the very top.
Imagine the fillip Ramsey could bring, a box-to-box No.8 midfielder who could transform the team’s and the club’s fortunes.
Some people might call this madness. I call it ambition.
And if Cardiff have ambition to become a top-eight Premier League club, this will be the first rung on the ladder. Bournemouth are pushing for that. With respect, they have nothing like the fan base, and this pulling power, of a club like Cardiff City.
So why can’t we have dreams? OK, the chances of landing Ramsey are slim. The wages are a huge obstacle, so too the fact clubs like Liverpool, Manchester United and a load of big Italian clubs have been linked with Ramsey. They will be a big lure for Ramsey himself.
But he turns 28 next month and may have the idea in his head to come back home to Cardiff at some stage anyway.
Why not do it two years earlier? Why should we adopt a can’t-do attitude, rather than a can-do one? I’ve had obstacles put in front of me since I was young, but always believed.
Cardiff should be believing, too. Ken Choo and his colleagues should be pulling together the best offer they can possibly muster.
They shouldn’t accept normality, shouldn’t just accept their place in the football world order.
As I say, I’m not the kind of person who has the word ‘can’t’ in their vocabulary.
It’s a financial risk, but then every transfer in football is a gamble.
Where do Cardiff want to be and how do they get there?
They need ambition and they need to show people they’re in this for real.
Vincent Tan, to be fair to him, has never been shy with his money during his time at the club. Isn’t it around £200million he has put into the Bluebirds?
So, why not Ramsey? Stranger things have happened.
Just imagine the buzz it would give everyone were they to go for this.