Aaron Ramsey: Wales hope better days are ahead as Juventus midfielder misses out again
- Published
Aaron Ramsey made his only Wales appearance of 2020 in the goalless draw with the Republic of Ireland in October
Wales have met up for an international break and there is no sign of Aaron Ramsey.
Sadly for both player and country, it has become an all too familiar tale.
After Gareth Bale, Ramsey is the first name mentioned whenever Wales' footballing prospects are discussed.
With Bale and Ramsey in their team, the line normally goes, Wales have a chance against anyone.
But the fact is that in recent times, Wales have not often had Bale and Ramsey together.
Ryan Giggs has taken charge of 24 games as national manager. Bale and Ramsey have shared the same pitch in only five of those, playing a mere 336 international minutes together during the Giggs era.
Ramsey's tale of woe
Juventus midfielder Ramsey was named in the squad for Wales' games against the USA on Thursday, 12 November, the Republic of Ireland (15 November) and Finland (18 November), but swiftly withdrew because of a thigh injury.
He had come off after 53 minutes of Juve's Champions League win at Ferencvaros last week.
And so there will be three more international matches missed for a player who has featured in just three of Wales' last 15 games.
Ramsey withdrew from Wales' most recent outing, the win in Bulgaria last month, with an unspecified injury having played in the goalless draw in Ireland three days earlier.
He missed the friendly prior to Ireland, against England, because he was held up by coronavirus travel restrictions, and withdrew from the squad for September games against Bulgaria and Finland with an unspecified injury.
Aaron Ramsey's double against Hungary booked Wales' spot at Euro 2020, which will now take place in 2021 due to coronavirus
Ramsey played - and gave a reminder of his class by scoring twice - in Wales' previous match, the 2-0 victory over Hungary 12 months ago which booked the nation's place at Euro 2020.
That game was the last in which Ramsey played alongside Bale.
Ramsey had come on as a substitute for Bale in Azerbaijan last November, when Wales' 2-0 win set up the Hungary decider.
Azerbaijan was Ramsey's first appearance of the qualifying campaign.
In October 2019, he sat out draws with Croatia and Slovakia with a groin problem, having earlier withdrawn from the squad for September games against Belarus and Azerbaijan.
Hamstring and back problems were reported at the time, while Ramsey was short of match fitness at the end of the summer when he joined Juventus.
Ramsey was not named in the squad for Wales' defeats to Hungary and Croatia in June 2019 because of the hamstring injury which brought a premature end to his Arsenal career.
In his final international break as a Gunner, Ramsey was part of the squad for wins over Slovakia and Trinidad & Tobago but did not feature because of a thigh injury.
Happier times
Ramsey's Wales record over the last 20 months may make fairly grim reading, but it has not always been that way.
He was absent for the first two games of the Giggs era, at the China Cup, because of what was described at the time as "a small procedure", but played 90 minutes in five of Wales' next six matches and featured as a substitute in the friendly loss to Albania in November 2018.
He missed only one game during that sequence - a Nations League victory in Ireland in October 2018 - and that was because of the birth of his twin sons.
It was a similar story during the latter stages of Chris Coleman's Wales reign.
Having starred at Euro 2016, Ramsey missed three internationals the following autumn because of a hamstring injury.
But he then played 90 minutes in eight successive Wales games from November 2016 through to November 2017, when he sat out the draw with Panama which proved to be the last act of Coleman's reign.
Is age an issue?
Ramsey, 29, had to battle for a place at Juventus last season, having taken the brave move to try his luck in Italy after 11 years at Arsenal.
Even so - and despite that hamstring issue which made for a troubled start at his new club - Ramsey managed 35 club appearances last season, even if the majority were as a substitute.
He has featured in seven of Juventus' 10 fixtures this term, starting on six occasions, and has played a decent percentage of club games ever since recovering from the broken leg he suffered at Stoke in 2010.
Danny Gabbidon, who played alongside Ramsey for Wales, believes his former team-mate's recent fitness troubles may be in part down to age.
Aaron Ramsey has scored four times in 44 appearances for Juventus since joining on a free when his Arsenal contract expired
"It seems the last two or three seasons he's been picking up these kind of muscle injuries," Gabbidon told the Elis James Feast of Football podcast.
"You look at Aaron and the way he plays. He's a fit lad to be fair - he's always on the move and full of energy.
"Once you get towards the back-end of you career and the body maybe doesn't function as well as it did when you were younger, it is possible for these things to happen and you pick up these little niggles.
"A lot of it can be down to not playing week-in, week-out. He is all action, box-to-box and does a lot of running.
"Maybe the body is not quite as strong and in tune as it was a few years ago."
Wales' recent successes suggest Ramsey is not quite as pivotal a figure as some might think.
They are unbeaten in 10 competitive games, only three of which have featured Ramsey.
Perhaps that statistic says more about the greater depth in Wales' squad right now than it does about Ramsey's influence, for it would be wrong to suggest that Giggs' side is better off when the former Cardiff youngster is not around.
In seven months' time Wales will get a second taste of the European Championship, with games against Switzerland, Turkey and Italy ahead next June.
It would be a shame - and a hefty blow to Wales' tournament prospects - should fitness problems stop Ramsey playing a full part.