colours for the first time
After 11 years at Arsenal, 28-year-old Caerphilly-born, Wales international midfielder Aaron Ramsey will be setting out on a new adventure over the coming season in ,with Juventus.
Ramsey is reported to have signed a contract that will earn him more than £400,000 a week, so making him the highest-paid British player of all time (although that could be obliterated should countryman Gareth Bale secure a move to China in the coming days).
During his time with the Gunners, Ramsey made 371 appearances, scored 65 goals and won the FA Cup on three occasions.
The expectation will be to win far more silverware over the course of his four-year contract in Italy. Last season Juventus secured their eighth consecutive Serie A title and La Vecchia Signora (The Old Lady) are the 4/9 favourites to claim a ninth straight title in 2019-20 at bet365*.
Their raison d’être though is the UEFA Champions League, where they are 8/1 to prevail with the same bookmaker. Meanwhile Arsenal are 40/1 with bet365* for the Premier League title. Should you fancy a wager on any of those odds, head for freebets.co.uk where you can find all new customer bonus offers from bet365.
Ramsey will see a couple of familiar faces from the Emirates Stadium at his new home, with Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szcz?sny and English striker Stephy Mavididi both having joined Juventus from the Gunners. Mavididi, although officially with Juve’s U23 team, made his senior Juventus debut in a 2–1 away loss against SPAL in Serie A towards the end of last term.
Other Welsh Players at Juve
There have also been a couple of Welsh players on the books at Juve before Ramsey. The legendary John Charles is regarded by many who saw him play as the greatest British footballer of all time and he is also seen as one of the greatest foreign players ever to wear a Juventus shirt (fans voted Charles as their greatest ever foreign player in 1997). It was Juve fans who also gave Charles the nickname, Il Gigante Buono (the Gentle Giant).
There’s good reason why Charles is held in such high esteem in Turin. Having joined Juventus for what was a then-British record £65,000 from Leeds United in August 1957, Charles made an immediate impression by scoring match-winning goals in his first three matches.
His first season in Serie A ended with him being the league’s top scorer and winning the player of the season award. Charles would go on to win the Scudetto three times in five years, scoring 108 goals in 155 matches for the club.
Somewhat less successful than Charles in Italian football was Ian Rush. The prolific Liverpool striker signed for Juventus in a £3.2 million deal (for what was then another British record transfer fee). He didn’t move to Turin immediately, continuing at Liverpool for one season on loan before going to Italy.
Rush struggled to adjust to the tighter defences in Serie A and only scored eight goals in 29 games. After one season, he was sold back to Liverpool for £2.7 million. Rush’s troubles in Turin were summed up by the famous quote, “It’s like living in a foreign country”, which although attributed to him, he has long since denied ever saying.
Ramsey should benefit from playing in a star-studded line-up at the Allianz Stadium, although his salary doesn’t necessarily mean that he is guaranteed a starting berth. After some largely frustrating years at Arsenal, Ramsey will certainly expect to increase his medal collection over the coming years.