Ox and Aaron are our future, says Wenger
ARSENE WENGER has challenged Aaron Ramsey and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to lead Arsenal for the next 10 years, in a bold appeal to the pair’s loyalty.
Wenger’s own future path is still a matter of doubt.
He faces a season-defining FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City today with fans increasingly belligerent and star players Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil still not signed for the long term.
But Wenger says the future rests with the likes of Ramsey and Oxlade-Chamberlain, despite the uncertainty which has surrounded the pair this season.
Ramsey, an instrumental figure in the FA Cup wins of 2014 and 2015 who scored the winner against Hull in the 2014 final, has had a frustrating campaign marred by niggling injuries after his performances at Euro 2016 promised so much.
Oxlade-Chamberlain has developed into a regular starter and yet hasn’t been offered a new deal.
The England international’s contract expires next year and he is understood to think that the club don’t wish him to stay, with Liverpool keen to sign him. But Wenger has dismissed that, saying Oxlade-Chamberlain will be offered a new deal and that he and Ramsey should shape the way forward for Arsenal.
‘They have to take charge of the future of the club,’ said Wenger. ‘They should lead and take responsibility to say “Yes, that is how we want to behave, this is how we want to play, let’s go together”.
‘Look, if they didn’t want that, it would be a huge disappointment. We speak a lot about my future but my future [legacy] is more important in the value and spirit of what we have built in 20 years than in my own person.
‘These guys have to take charge of what we have built, and the values of the club. That’s why the club is admired. We have supporters all over the world because of that — because of the values that this club represents.
‘It’s not only the trophies that we win that is important. It’s also about the way you behave, the way you think.’
Arsenal trumpeted that they were building a British core at the club when R am sey,Oxl ad eChamberlain, J ac kWilsh ere, Kieran Gibbs and Carl Jenkinson all signed new deals together in 2012.
That British core seems an idea which has served its time, with Gibbs and Jenkinson set to leave in the summer and Wilshere’s future unclear. The midfielder’s season-long loan spell at Bournemouth was cut short with a leg fracture during a 4-0 Premier League defeat by Tottenham last weekend but he is expected to return to training with Arsenal in July. His current deal at the north London club expires at the end of next season.
Wenger say he is more interested in a player’s commitment than their nationality, adding that OxladeChamberlain, 23, and Ramsey, 26, ought to be the club’s leaders in the coming years.
‘What I love above a passport are players who integrate the values of the club,’ he said. ‘That is the most important. And are ready to defend these values.
‘It’s more natural for local players because they have been educated in Arsenal — players like Ramsey, Chamberlain.’