Ramsey not distracted by Arsenal contract saga, says Giggs

Aaron Ramsey will stay focused amid ongoing speculation about his Arsenal future, according to Wales manager Ryan Giggs.

Ramsey will be a free agent at the end of the 2018-19 season and Arsenal have reportedly opted not to offer the midfielder a new deal.

Liverpool and Manchester United are among the Premier League clubs to be linked with Ramsey, while Serie A sides AC Milan, Juventus and Inter are also said to be interested.

Ramsey has featured in all eight Premier League games for Arsenal this season, the Wales international scoring a brilliant goal in Sunday’s 5-1 win at Fulham.

And Giggs feels the 27-year-old will shrug off any conjecture over his next move, with Wales set to face Spain in an international friendly on Thursday.

“I don’t want to get involved. No. It hasn’t been,” Giggs replied when asked if Ramsey’s contract situation had been a distraction. 

“It wasn’t in the last campaign and it hasn’t been in this campaign. Aaron enjoys meeting up [with the Wales squad] and as for contract talks, I don’t really want to get involved in that.

“When he’s here he’s my player and like always he loves being here, he loves playing for his country and he’s very good to have around the dressing room and in the camp in general. It hasn’t affected him from my point of view.”

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— Aaron Ramsey (@aaronramsey) October 7, 2018

The Spain game will act as a warm-up for Tuesday’s trip to Republic of Ireland and, after Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp labelled the Nations League “the most senseless competition in the world”, Giggs defended UEFA’s new international tournament.

“When you’re involved in big league games, and Champions League games and they’re coming thick and fast, there’s a bit of disruption with the international calendar, you can understand club managers sometimes getting frustrated,” Giggs said. 

“On our behalf, I’ve said this before, I think it’s an exciting new tournament. It gives us a chance – or another chance – to qualify for a major championship [Euro 2020]. And the groups are really competitive.

“So, you’re always going to get that with club managers and international managers disagreeing on certain things but from my perspective, I think once everyone gets their head around it, it’s something different and we should embrace it.”