An emotional Aaron Ramsey bid farewell to the Arsenal faithful at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday as he prepares to end his 11-year spell in North London in advance of a free transfer move to Italian champions Juventus.
Welsh international Ramsey joined Arsenal from boyhood club Cardiff City as a teenager in 2008 and quickly established himself as a central creative force at the club before his progress was stymied by a broken leg suffered in a Premier League fixture at Stoke City in 2010.
The injury would remove Ramsey from Arsene Wenger's first team affairs for more than a year, but he would soon make up for lost time on his return. The Welshman was named Arsenal's Player of the Year on two occasions and subsequently helped the club to three FA Cups (scoring the winner in two of them) and two Community Shields, as well as being crucial to Wales' impressive run to the semi-finals of Euro 2016 - a resume which appears to have caught the eye of Juventus boss Max Allegri.
The Italian champions pounced on Ramsey when it became clear that he was unsure about signing a new deal in London and agreed pre-contract terms with the player in February ahead of a move to Turin once this season ends.
Arsenal, playing their last home game of the season on Sunday, formed a guard of honor for Ramsey following their 1-1 draw with Brighton, in which the Welshman appeared visibly emotional as he was embraced by goalkeeper Petr Cech.
Unfortunately for Ramsey, a hamstring injury picked up in the Europa League quarter-final against Napoli ruled him out for Arsenal's climax to the season and he had to watch from the sidelines as a 1-1 result with Brighton essentially ruled the team out of contention for Champions League qualification.
The midfielder paid tribute to the Arsenal support in an Instagram post last week, writing: "It saddens me to say that the game against Napoli was my last game in an Arsenal shirt.
"Unfortunately it left me with an injury that rules me out of the remaining games. I am really disappointed not to play until the end and give everything for the club while I am still an Arsenal player. Unfortunately it’s out of my hands but I wanted to say thank you to the fans for your support.
"It has been a journey, on and off the field, and so much has happened in 11 years. I was a spotty young kid coming in and I’m leaving a man, married, father of three boys and full of pride and good memories that I will treasure.
"It will be emotional this weekend - my last game at home. I look forward to seeing you there and thank you all again from the bottom of my heart for everything."
Max Allegri's Juventus side, who recently claimed their eighth successive Scudetto, are still smarting from a poor run of Champions League form which wasn't corrected even by the high-profile recruitment of Cristiano Ronaldo and it is hoped that a Ramsey can add further guile to a midfield to creative more chances for the Portuguese.
It has been reported that Ramsey will earn as much as £400,000 (US$515,000) per week during for the duration of his four-year deal in Italy.
Source : RT - Daily news
Juventus-bound Aaron Ramsey breaks down in tears after emotional Arsenal send-off (VIDEO)
Juventus-bound Aaron Ramsey breaks down in tears after emotional Arsenal send-off (VIDEO)