On Sunday, Arsenal defeated Newcastle United 1-0, and after the game, with it being their final home match of 2024/25, it gave the supporters a chance to say farewell to some players who are unlikely to be seen again in red and white.
Kieran Tierney will bow out of the Emirates Stadium, set to head back to Celtic, after a haul of 143 appearances for the north Londoners.
Jorginho, too, will depart at the end of his contract. While he perhaps won’t be remembered as fondly as Tierney, his ultimate professionalism across the two years he’s been at Arsenal has been a joy to behold.
It will be sad to see them go, but it certainly wasn’t as emotional as some farewells we’ve given in the modern era.
Arsene Wenger’s exit in 2018 will go down in history, while it’s hard to forget the tears a certain Aaron Ramsey shed when leaving under Unai Emery in 2019.
Since his exit, Arsenal haven’t had too many goalscoring midfielders. That said, they may well have found one now.
What made Aaron Ramsey so special
A winner of three FA Cups, a scorer of two cup final goals at Wembley, Ramsey will forever be remembered in these parts as a big game player, an icon who overcame so much adversity.
The way he entered the club rather set the tone for his dramatic time in the English capital. Manchester United had announced he was set to sign for them on their official website, only for the Welshman to pen terms with Arsenal instead.
Signed from Cardiff, it didn’t take Ramsey long to make an impression, but that horrific leg break against Stoke in February 2010 was a colossal setback.
After several months out, the Wales international fortunately went on to have a wonderful career in the game.
Who can forget that remarkable season in 2013/14? Ramsey scored the winner in extra time of the FA Cup final against Hull City, one of 16 goals in just 34 outings throughout the campaign.
A true box-to-box star, the Wales international became a master of arriving late in the penalty area and scoring from midfield.
Since then, however, Arsenal haven’t had too many players capable of finding the net from similar zones, ghosting into the area.
Perhaps the last was Granit Xhaka. In the Swiss’ final year with the Gunners, he scored on nine occasions and registered a further seven assists in 47 matches.
So, how have Arsenal gone about replacing the dynamic duo?
Arsenal's new Granit Xhaka and Aaron Ramsey
The form of Martin Odegaard a few years ago certainly suggested he could replace the pair. Indeed, during 2022/23, no midfielder scored more than the Norwegian’s 15 in the Premier League.
That being said, he isn’t a box-to-box midfielder. He presses hard, but he doesn’t do the dirty work further back in the field.
Instead, Mikel Arteta’s modern-day answer to Ramsey and Xhaka is a certain Declan Rice. Oh, where would the Gunners be without him this season?
Of course, you’ve got those two remarkable free-kicks against Real Madrid, but he’s also come up with some vital moments elsewhere.
He’s not just a master of free-kicks, but his corner delivery has been one of the best in Europe this season. We salute Nicolas Jover for putting the former West Ham man on set-pieces towards the back end of last season.
Funnily enough, Rice initially signed as a defensive midfielder but throughout 2024/25, he’s been largely selected as the left-sided 8 and it’s a position he’s made his own.
2021/22
50
5
4
2022/23
50
5
4
2023/24
51
7
10
2024/25
51
9
10
The difference was felt in the first leg of Arsenal’s Champions League semi-final tie with PSG. The £240k-per-week earner had destroyed Madrid across both legs from a more advanced role in midfield but due to Thomas Partey’s suspension, he had to play further back.
While Rice is certainly excellent at sitting in front of the defence, Arsenal couldn’t get up the pitch as quickly and they also lost one of their goal threats. That perhaps explains why the club reportedly want to bring in Real Sociedad’s Martin Zubimendi this summer. More of a Jorginho type, the Spaniard would give Rice the keys to make that no.8 spot his permanent position in the team.
Chalkboard
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So, why has he thrived so much? Well, like Xhaka, he’s got a terrific engine and his technique is first-class.
Meanwhile, like Ramsey, he’s becoming rather good at arriving late in the area or on the edge of the box to score a goal. In the words of Arsenal writer Connor Humm, he is a true “monster.”
We saw that first-hand against Newcastle on Sunday. Odegaard found the ball on the right-hand side and laid it into the path of Rice, who was ready and waiting on the edge of the penalty area to fizz the ball past Nick Pope.
That was the £105m signing’s ninth strike of the campaign, one that equalled Xhaka’s haul of two years ago. It also marked Rice’s best-ever goalscoring return in a single season. Not bad at all.
When Arsenal’s Player of the Season is announced in the forthcoming weeks, there are surely only two candidates: Gabriel and Rice. For that magical night against Madrid alone, Rice is our man.
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