\n<\/p>\n
When Arsenal<\/span><\/span> sold Cesc Fabregas<\/span><\/span> and Samir Nasri<\/span><\/span> in the same transfer window, the hope was that youngsters Aaron Ramsey<\/span><\/span> and Jack Wilshere<\/span><\/span> would develop into their long-term replacements.<\/p>\n It is ironic that, in many ways, the midfielders\u2019 careers have run in parallel.<\/p>\n When you think of either player, you cannot help but wonder, what if?<\/p>\n Both had to recover from serious injuries, and it takes considerable mental strength to return from lengthy spells on the sidelines on more than one occasion.<\/p>\n Ramsey became a cult hero in North London after scoring two winning goals in the three FA Cups he lifted.<\/p>\n If Arsene Wenger<\/span><\/span> had remained at the Emirates longer, so too might have the player, with all parties reportedly agreeing verbally to extend his contract.<\/p>\n However, Unai Emery<\/span><\/span> made it clear that he did not view Ramsey as part of his preferred starting eleven. The Kroenke family<\/span><\/span> understandably decided they were unwilling to offer a substantial salary to a player no longer guaranteed a starting role.<\/p>\n Not only did they inform Ramsey\u2019s representatives that they would not honour the previously agreed wage, but all negotiations were subsequently cancelled.<\/p>\n In the final six years of his career, he played in five different countries but never came close to replicating the form he displayed as a Gunner.<\/p>\n He followed a similar path to Gareth Bale<\/span><\/span> in prioritising his international career before retirement, which is fitting given that both became defining figures of Wales\u2019 golden generation.<\/p>\n Having scored in two European Championships and featured at a World Cup, it had long been expected that the Welsh captain was waiting to see if the Red Dragons would qualify for North America.<\/p>\n This time last year, he managed Cardiff City<\/span><\/span>\u2019s final three fixtures of the campaign but chose not to pursue the role on a full-time basis, as he hoped to play his final match at the World Cup.<\/p>\n In reality, he had not played since October in Mexico, when his contract was terminated.<\/p>\n There was no fairytale ending, but there is a sense that if he chooses to move into coaching, Mikel Arteta<\/span><\/span> would welcome him back to the club.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When Arsenal sold Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri in the same transfer window, the hope<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1146,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1145\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/disport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Talent and Adversity<\/h2>\n
Legacy and Reflection<\/h2>\n