Arsenal boss demands Ramsey focuses on football amid exit talk

Arsenal manager Unai Emery has told Aaron Ramsey to focus on football amid talk contract negotiations have hit a stumbling block.

Ramsey has entered the final 12 months of his current Arsenal deal and the Gunners are struggling to agree terms with the Wales international.

Manchester United and Chelsea are reportedly monitoring Ramsey’s future and there is a growing feeling that he could leave in January if a new deal is not agreed before then.

Arsenal handed out huge contracts to Mesut Ozil, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan at the start of the year and Ramsey wants to be rewarded with a similar deal.

Ozil signed a bumper £350,000-a-week deal in February and there is an argument that Ramsey, who is considered a key member in Arsenal’s squad, is as important, if not more, than the German.

Ramsey was surprisingly benched in Arsenal’s 3-2 defeat to Chelsea last weekend and Emery has revealed he wants the 27-year-old to leave talks about his future to one side.

“I only need his focus on training, the matches and on his performances each day,” BBC Sport quote Emery as saying.

“I spoke with him last week but now, today, my focus is on the match and I want the player to be focused only on Saturday.”

Since the start of last season, Arsenal have a significantly better win ratio in the Premier League when Ramsey has started (54.5%) compared to when he has not featured from the off (38.9%).