Will Sir Alex rue not going that extra mile for Aaron Ramsey?

If you haven’t heard my Manchester United magical amulet analogy, you’re in luck, as I’ll relay it again for you now. Imagine a mystical magical amulet. The kind of thing you’d find in a bad science fiction novel or a fantasy role-playing game. It’s a special thing, possessing several other worldly powers and makes the owner of it truly exceptional. Cristiano Ronaldo had an amulet such as this. Roy Keane had one, even Paul Scholes in his heyday had one and still does but it’s power is fading. Some of these magical amulets have been split up, broken into pieces and scattered about the earth. Anyone who possesses a piece of them can attain part of the amulets power but only a part equate able to the size of the piece. Are you still following me? Or do you think I’ve probably gone completely mad?

What Manchester United need in midfield is a man who possesses a whole amulet. A special player at, or nearing, the peak of his powers. They have one up front in Wayne Rooney, but behind him they have several players with merely pieces. Instead of the magical Ronaldo, they have Nani, Valencia and the strangely headed Obertan, all capable of little bits of Ronaldo’s power but none all. Instead of a replacement for the magical Scholes and Keane, they have Fletcher, Carrick, Anderson, Gibson, Hargreaves etc, all capable of little bits of the powers those two men possessed but none all of either. They need an amulet player in the center of the park, if only to be a consistent partner for the ever improving Fletcher, who’s managed to cobble together a few more pieces in the last couple of years.

Arsenal have an amuletted player in Cesc Fabregas, and they may yet have another in the young Aaron Ramsey, even if they probably have pebbles everywhere else (and Andrey Arshavin, but he’s the size of a pebble so I’m counting him). Ramsey could’ve signed for Manchester United in 2008 but Arsene Wenger beat Ferguson to his signature and another promising youngster climbed up to the Arsenal tree house. Wenger pulled out all the stops to land the Welshman, flying his parents to Switzerland for cozy log fire chats. Ramsey admitted last week that he simply felt more wanted by Arsenal, saying;

“I listened to what the two managers had to say to me and I was just more impressed by how much they knew about me, what they wanted me to do to improve and the path they had for me. I just felt more wanted here than Manchester United.”

Ferguson was presumably counting on the progress of Anderson at the time, a player who then seemed more promising than Ramsey, but with the Brazilian’s erratic form and possible desire to leave England, Fergie’s decision to not take Ramsey that seriously may now be one he rues. Ramsey would be perfect for United right now who have a world class forward, world class defence (when fit) and world class keeper in their first team. They just miss that special presence in central midfield, Giggs and Scholes can’t do it forever, a new presence is needed, a presence that Arsenal, for all their problems elsewhere, seem blessed with.