Threadbare Arsenal pin Euro hopes on boy Ramsey
Teenager set for debut against Twente after late injuries to Fabregas and Toure
Arsenal are set to thrust 17-year-old midfielder Aaron Ramsey straight into the starting line-up for tonight’s crucial Champions League match with FC Twente after Cesc Fabregas was ruled out through injury.
Ramsey has started just 14 senior games in his brief career but the £5m summer signing from Cardiff is poised to make his Gunners debut alongside Denilson, 20, in an extremely raw centre midfield pairing.
Welshman Ramsey’s hasty promotion comes after creative fulcrum Fabregas suffered a hamstring injury in training and became the seventh first-team player to be ruled out of the qualifying round first leg.
Defenders Kolo Toure and Philippe Senderos will also miss the trip to Holland, it emerged last night, while Abou Diaby, Samir Nasri, Tomas Rosicky and Eduardo da Silva were already sidelined.
“We have a big squad at home,” Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said ruefully. “Aaron Ramsey has a good chance to start. We still have a very good team out tomorrow and hopefully we can get the result we want. We always have a very young midfield and a very young team at the moment, but that does not mean we do not have experience.”
Fabregas’ injury is a bitter blow ahead of a two-legged tie – against a side now managed by former England boss Steve McClaren – in which defeat is unthinkable.
But Wenger’s already meagre options have been reduced by the new injury blows, and he is now sure to hasten attempts to sign a defensive midfielder. Norway-based Ghanaian Anthony Annan is the latest player to be linked, but at 22 he hardly seems the seasoned campaigner Wenger appears to lack.
Arsenal’s inexperience is highlighted by the fact that Denilson will be tasked with guiding Ramsey tonight. The Brazilian has made just 26 senior starts himself, more than half of which have come in the Carling Cup and FA Cup.
Toure’s absence from central defence is likely to see Johan Djourou partner captain William Gallas, although the Ivorian and midfielder Nasri are expected to recover to face West Brom on Saturday.