Chris Dunlavy: Classy Aaron Ramsey can proudly bow out

By Chris Dunlavy – A fresh take on football

Aaron Ramsey desperately wanted the fairytale ending – so did the Cardiff City supporters who welcomed him back as a returning hero, battle-scarred and weary but determined to soldier on.

In the end, though, there was no fight left in the man from Caerphilly.

The mind was sharp, the heart committed.

But the body? That had nothing more to give.

MASTER AT WORK: Aaron Ramsey in action for Cardiff, and, Inset, playing for Wales in Euro 2016 PICTURE: Alamy

Illusion

Since rejoining his boyhood club in the summer of 2023, the 34-year-old has started 13 Championship games and appeared in just eight more.

He last found the net in September 2023, when a run of four goals in six matches briefly conjured the illusion that Ramsey wasn’t finished at all, that the laboured performances for Wales in Qatar were mere ring-rust, and that a player once coveted by Europe’s elite really could return to his elusive best.

But it was an illusion.

Of course it was.

No supporter of Wales or Cardiff wanted to believe it, but they knew deep down that Ramsey’s legs had gone.

It was obvious to anyone who has played the game and felt the ravages of age and mileage steal a couple of gears.

“You’re f***ed, aren’t you?” as Mike Phelan famously asked Gary Neville after the former England defender had been rinsed by West Bromwich Albion’s Jerome Thomas in what turned out to be his final game for Manchester United.

Time waits for no man, not even decorated right-backs or the most gifted Welsh midfielder of his generation.

Time up?

Now, the end is nigh.

The news this week that Ramsey will require hamstring surgery surely means we will not see him on a football pitch again.

His £25,000-a-week contract at Cardiff expires in the summer, and unless he is willing to accept a pay-as-you-play deal then it’s difficult to see how the Bluebirds can justify keeping him on the wage bill.

They have too many talented kids coming through, and too little cash in the bank.

Thereafter, Ramsey’s options are limited.

In the modern game, even 30-year-olds with unblemished fitness records are struggling to secure contracts as clubs increasingly prioritise development potential over experience.

No sell-on value, no deal, however influential a figure you are in the dressing room.

Style

Saudi, perhaps? Maybe the States.

Presumably, Ramsey wants one last shot at the World Cup, which takes place in North America next summer.

But is there any sense in punishing a body that has evidently taken enough?

Ramsey lived the dream – he played for his boyhood club.

He won major honours, scored in FA Cup finals, played for Arsenal and Juventus, and represented his country at their first World Cup in over half a century.

He did it all with style and grace, a total footballer so technically rounded that he looked at home in practically every position north of centre-back.

Underappreciated

As a footballer, Ramsey was perhaps underappreciated.

He was a player of nuance and subtlety rather than explosive brilliance.

Yet for all the spectacular dynamism of Gareth Bale, it was Ramsey’s intelligence, movement and class in possession that propelled Wales to the semi-finals of Euro 2016, a fact recognised by his peers when he was voted into the team of the tournament.

Ramsey is an all-time great of Welsh football with nothing left to prove, nothing left to achieve and half a lifetime to coax out of an injury-riddled body.

He is also a UEFA A-Licenced coach with a reputation that can open plenty of doors.

The time has come to walk through them and call time on a wonderful career.