Football news - Arsenal should make Ramsey captain, not let him leave, says Wilshere

Arsenal's Welsh midfielder Aaron Ramsey is set to leave the club after failing to agree a contract extension, and with his current deal set to expire in July it is rumoured that the Gunners may cash in during the January transfer window.

It was reported that the club withdrew an offer during the recent negotiations, but former midfielder Wilshere believes that was mistake and says that Arsenal should be making Ramsey captain rather than letting him leave.

“He’s grown up to be a great player with Arsenal," Wilshere said in an interview with the Islington Gazette.

“He’s a great guy to have around. He’s been at the club so long and knows it inside out. If you look at what he’s done for the club too. We went into the first team in the same year. He came from Cardiff and I came from the youth team. We automatically clicked because we were both young and new to that sort of environment.”

And Wilshere also believes that Ramsey is one of the top midfielders in the division:

“I think you’ve got to look at the situation and ask: ‘How many top teams in the Premier League and elsewhere could he get in?’ And you’d have to say them all - and that speaks volumes about the type of player he is.”

Wilshere left Arsenal for West Ham United in July after a decade at the club. The 27-year-old Ramsey is in his 11th year at Arsenal.