OFFICIALLY OFFICIAL: Juventus sign Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey

When Juventus was the rumored destination for then-Liverpool midfielder Emre Can, there were what seemed like about 150 different times where we heard from Italian and English media outlets about his arrival. Maybe it was January. Then January became May. But because Liverpool made a surprise run to the Champions League final, it became the summer transfer window. The Can signing we thought might be announced in January actually became official on June 21.

There will be none of that waiting game when it comes to Aaron Ramsey.

Juventus announced on Monday that they have agreed to bring the 28-year-old Ramsey on a free transfer starting next season. The much-talked about signing in attempt to improve Juve’s midfield didn’t have the drawn-out drama that the adventure that Can’s signing was a year ago, with Ramsey essentially taking care of all the details needed to sign on with the Italian champions in relatively anonymity before the deal was announced a little less than two weeks after the January transfer window came to a close.

The official statement from Juventus’ website:

Turin, 11 February 2019 - Juventus Football Club S.p.A. announces that a contract of employment with the player Aaron James Ramsey, effective as of 1st July 2019 and expiring on 30 June 2023, has been signed. As a result of the registration of the player, Juventus will incur additional costs of € 3.7 million, to be paid within 10th July 2019.

(You’ll notice that’s a Wales jersey Ramsey is wearing, not an Arsenal one. Convenient that Ramsey’s country wears adidas isn’t it? Just an observation...)

According to Sky Sport Italia’s Gianluca Di Marzio, Ramsey will earn €7 million a season plus bonuses over the course of the four-year contract he has just put pen to paper to. What kind of bonuses those are obviously are something we don’t know about right now. But knowing Ramsey’s past and how one of the main career narratives that is attached to him involves his history with injuries, I’m going to venture a guess that one of the main one has to do with appearances and/or starts he makes over the course of any given season.

But, for now, that

Ramsey, based on what we pretty much knew the last handful of weeks and what Di Marzio is again reporting now that the deal is official, will be one of Juventus’ highest-paid players. It’s obviously not Cristiano Ronaldo levels of an annual salary because nobody is ever going to rival that, but he’s on that next tier along with the likes of Paulo Dybala, Douglas Costa, Miralem Pjanic and the aforementioned Can.

All of that can be discussed later on. For now, we shall welcome Mr. Ramsey because he will probably be the No. 1 candidate to fill the currently-vacant No. 8 jersey next season. With that comes its own level of expectations knowing what midfielders have worn it in decades past, including the last guy.