Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes midfielder Aaron Ramsey realised how much he wants to be a professional footballer after he suffered his horrific leg-break against Stoke City back in 2010.
The Welsh international was breaking his way into the first-team three years ago, but was then struck by the leg break after a challenge involving Ryan Shawcross and the terrible injury cost Ramsey nine months of his career.
With injury issues behind him, Ramsey has been in superb form during The Gunners’ pre-season and also at the start of the competitive campaign, even scoring during their 3-0 victory over Fenerbache on Wednesday night.
Talking to the club’s official website, Wenger admitted that the bad injury made Ramsey realise how much he wants to be a success.
“His improvement is blatant,” Wenger told Arsenal Player. “I said that many times – our fans have to be behind the players because one year ago, nobody would have imagined that Ramsey would be at that level now.
“You have to believe in your players, especially when they are young. Every month, if they have he right attitude, they will be stronger.
“We have not only the chance but as well the merit to have all these young players together and you want them to be encouraged. It’s as well nice to see that under pressure, they respond with a good performance.
“You know a player who is injured before the age of 20, he gets back to a level he was at before and he improves like nothing has happened before. The stats show that.
“It took him a while of course because it was not a simple injury. Because he was so young, what happened to him will not have damaged his career. He shows that now.
“I believe as well the fact that he was out for such a long time, he had to think about his career [and] think about how much he wants it. Sometimes, the suffering in your life, if you turn it in a positive way, can be helpful.
“Of course you do not want to wish anybody to be injured like that. We all go through periods in our life where things are not as easy as you think it can be and it’s what kind of use you make out of it [that matters]. I think he used that in a very positive way.”
Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt
