West Ham United and Crystal Palace are interested in taking Aaron Ramsey back to the Premier League but his £115,000-a-week Juventus wages could scupper a deal, as reported by Calciomercato.
Free agents are not always as affordable as they may seem.
When Juventus snapped up Ramsey in the summer of 2019, following his rather acrimonious exit from Arsenal, the absence of a transfer fee was offset by a staggering pay-packet; one that put the Welsh international amongst the very highest earners at the Allianz Stadium.
Two years on, that eye-watering contract is proving to be as much of a curse as it is a blessing.
It is no secret that Ramsey is frustrated in Turin – he admitted as much himself earlier in May.
While Juventus will not stand in his way should an offer arrive, finding a club willing to take over his £6 million-a-year deal may be easier said than done.
CM reports that West Ham and Crystal Palace have expressed an interest. But neither the Hammers nor the Eagles are in a position to pay Ramsey £115,000-a-week, all the while shelling out a transfer fee in the region of £14 million.
West Ham boss David Moyes is a long-time admirer of the now-30-year-old Ramsey, having tried and failed to sign the then-Cardiff City teenager when he was still the manager of Everton.
“Yeah, I was very close to signing Ramsey at Everton,” Moyes once told FourFourTwo, reflecting on a transfer saga which took place back in 2008.
“I had him in my house and Arsenal beat me to it.”
Ramsey may have been identified as a potential replacement for the influential Jesse Lingard at West Ham but, while he has a reputation for being a reliable source of goals from midfield, the numbers say something rather different.
Since the start of 2016/17, Ramsey has found the net just 17 times in league football (an average of just 3.4 a season).
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