In June 2008, Cardiff’s Aaron Ramsey opted to join Arsenal ahead of Man United. Ramsey himself said that he felt that Arsenal wanted him more (probably had something to do with the fact that Sir Alex sent Gary Neville to give him a tour of Carrington whilst Wenger flew him and his family out to Paris to meet him) and the deal was confirmed for Ramsey when United attempted to include a clause in his contract that meant he would be loaned back to the Welsh club for a season.
There was also greater competition for places at Old Trafford than he would have faced at Arsenal and all of these factors combined meant we missed out on a hell of a player, a player who supports Man United and a player we could use as of this moment as we look to strengthen our midfield.
2 years later we are approaching a similar situation with Cardiff’s Adam Matthews and hopefully this time around we can get it right.
Matthews is one of Wales most promising talents and recently won the Championship Apprentice of the Year award having played 27 league games for Dave Jones side this season despite only turning 18 in January. Cardiff have a huge tax bill hanging over their head and United or any team interested in him could take advantage of this.
We aren’t looking too bad in the rb position with Wes Brown, John O’Shea as well as Rafael and new signing Marnick Vermijl but if he is as good as it is thought he should not fear the competition.
Cardiff fans rate him as a bigger prospect than Ramsey when he was at the club quite a compliment considering how good Ramsey is. His team mates sing his praise including Kevin McNaughton who he is fighting for the right back spot at Cardiff:
“Adam is different class – and I knew that when I first saw him in training last season. He has a cool head and the attributes needed. Adam is one for the future, no doubt about that. He has everything needed to succeed. He has such composure, bags of it, and you can’t teach young players that. Adam isn’t fazed by anything or anybody. No matter how dangerous his opponent.”
It was announced that in November that we had beaten Arsenal to his signature although these reports were found to be false, this summer if we are in fact in for Matthews lets sign him rather than regret missing out on him in 2 years time like we do with Ramsey.
