Trick me once shame on you, trick me twice shame on me.
What’s the saying for when you have been tricked no less than eight times and you still haven’t learnt your lesson?
Arsenal are living proof that you can make the same mistake over and over again without doing anything differently, it’s in their blood.
The club has made a complete mess of contract negotiations with Aaron Ramsey and they risk losing another star player entering their prime.
An unwillingness to loosen the purse strings on contracts for key members of the squad has typified the Gooners over the last decade and it has nearly always come back to bite them.
Arsenal put a four-year contract on the table for the Welshman only to pull out and either let him leave on a free in the summer or draw in some funds in January.
The midfielder has been slowly but returning to the player he promised to be before injuries.
He might not be the most influential player in the squad, and Unai Emery has highlighted that he doesn’t necessarily fit into his system, but there’s no doubting Ramsey’s quality.
The fact Arsenal have made such a mess of the contract talks only to then decide they don’t want their longest-serving player speaks volumes of the shambles upstairs at the club.
Signing Mesut Ozil, Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang are the transfers that can bring trophies but the list of players they have let slip through their fingers and they have gone on to excel elsewhere is nothing short of embarrassing.
2011 was not a vintage year for Arsenal keeping their best players.
Club captain Cesc Fabregas returned home to Barcelona in what was probably an inevitable move, he wanted to win something obviously.
But not only did their best midfielder leave, Gael Clichy and Samir Nasri were both sold to the ascending Man City.
The trio went on to win 10 trophies between them at their respective new clubs. Ouch.
Worse still, Robin Van Persie was sold to Man United the following season.
Unlike most top sides who only sell their best players when they are on the decline, and almost never to direct rivals, Arsenal waved sayonara to RVP.
He scored 26 league goals in his first season at Old Trafford as United won the league 16 points and 14 goals ahead of Arsenal.
But it doesn’t stop there.
The suits at Arsenal wouldn’t pay up when it came to Alexis Sanchez’s contract and once again their best player was taking all his piano-playing skills to Manchester.
Admittedly, Sanchez has not lived up to expectations under Jose Mourinho but don’t forget how electric the Chilean was for Arsenal.
Then we come to one of the worst of the lot.
What does it say about your squad the your club if you’re willing to allow a promising 25-year-old run down his contract and then sell him to a direct rival?
Yes, Arsenal received around £40m for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain but before his injury he was one of the brightest players in Liverpool’s run to the Champions League final.
The Gunners were losing to Atletico Madrid in the Europa League at the time.
If you want to compete at the very top in modern football you either have to stump up the cash or watch your best players leave to your rivals.
Ramsey is just the next in line in Arsenal’s near-decade of transfer gaffes.
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