World Cup player? Boss? Ramsey's uncertain future

Aaron Ramsey is at a crossroads.

As a generational Welsh talent, captain of his country and veteran of three major tournaments, his legendary status is already secure.

Mind you, the former Arsenal midfielder would say any talk of legacy is premature because, although he has enjoyed his first taste of management with boyhood club Cardiff City, Ramsey still wants to keep playing.

At 34 years old, that seems a plausible ambition for a man who has graced the Premier League, Serie A and Champions League, and scored in two FA Cup finals.

But after another luckless run of injuries, Ramsey is out of contract at Cardiff, who will be playing in the third tier next season for the first time since 2003.

Would a player of his class drop down to League One? And which other clubs would want to sign him now, given his fitness issues?

Will Ramsey turn to management instead? He relished his brief stint in charge of Cardiff despite their relegation from the Championship, and he has been tipped for a bright future as a coach.

Ramsey has a choice to make as he embarks on a summer of significant change.

Ramsey has said he wants to continue playing next season, but that in itself comes with uncertainty.

The 34-year-old's Cardiff contract expires this summer and, while the option of another year is written into the deal, he has not yet committed either way.

Matters are complicated by the fact Ramsey is still recovering from a hamstring injury which has kept him out of action for two months and requires further rehabilitation.

By his own admission, Ramsey's return to his boyhood club "hasn't materialised how we wanted" because of a "very frustrating" series of injuries which have severely limited his playing time.

Since rejoining Cardiff in 2023, the midfielder has started only 13 league games plus two in the FA Cup as well as making eight substitute appearances in the Championship.

"He still wants to play," former Wales striker Iwan Roberts told the Feast of Football podcast. "But is his body going to allow him?

"I think this [management] is the natural progression for Aaron with all the injuries he's had for quite a long period."

Although Ramsey is earning nowhere near the amount of money he was on at Arsenal or Juventus, the Bluebirds still had to push the boat out financially to bring him back to the Championship.

In League One, he would almost certainly need to take another pay cut.

According to those who know Ramsey best, he is a homebird who would be reluctant to move his family again towards the end of a career which has already taken him from London to Turin and then Nice, via Glasgow.

One of the main reasons for signing with Cardiff for a third stint was to settle down in south Wales with his wife Colleen and their three children.

It would need to be a compelling offer for Ramsey to consider moving now and, despite his standing in the game, his circumstances might limit the amount of potential suitors vying for his signature.

If he was to stay, would playing in League One hamper his chances of being included in Wales' squad for the 2026 World Cup should they qualify?

"I don't know," Ramsey said. "I don't know what's going to happen. At the moment I'm still in the early stages of rehab [from the hamstring injury] and I'm going to carry on with that."

Ramsey would not be the first third-tier player to represent Wales, who have picked from League Two and the Cymru Premier in the past.

However, playing in League One would represent a significant step down for a man who has spent the vast majority of his career at the highest levels of European football.

Ramsey has publicly stated that representing his country at a second World Cup is a factor in his desire to continue playing; there is a sense of unfinished business given how dismally Wales exited at the group stage in 2022.

But he was off the pace in Qatar and still only 31 at that point, as a lack of regular club football caught up with him and, in Ramsey's defence, many of his team-mates.

Four years on in the United States, Canada and Mexico, it is likely his powers will only have waned further.

That was one of the reasons for fellow midfielder Joe Allen's decision to retire last week.

"My instinct told me I wasn't going to get there [2026 World Cup]," said Allen, who like Ramsey, was a shadow of his former self in Qatar.

"Or, if I did get there, it wasn't going to be at the level I wanted to be representing my country at a World Cup."

Allen knew the time was right to step aside. A Welsh football great as he undoubtedly is, it had become apparent the 35-year-old could no longer reach the high standards he demanded of himself.

The same could be said of Ramsey but, unlike his long-time former Wales team-mate, he does not feel he is quite ready to let go.

Should Ramsey choose to retire and focus on management, he got a glimpse of how his future might look in the opposition dugout earlier this month.

Cardiff ended their ill-fated Championship season with a 4-2 defeat at Norwich City, who were under the temporary guidance of Ramsey's former Arsenal midfield partner Jack Wilshere.

Although Wilshere, 33, is a year younger than Ramsey, the ex-England international has already been retired three years after an injury-ravaged career.

He started coaching with Arsenal Under-18s and joined Norwich's staff earlier this season, before overseeing two games as caretaker manager.

There are plenty who want Ramsey to take the reins at Cardiff on a full-time basis, even though he has expressed his desire to keep playing.

"I think he's got the pedigree, there won't be much pressure on him in League One," said his former Bluebirds team-mate Michael Chopra.

"If Cardiff stayed in the Championship I would have been a bit wary of giving him the job but I think it's the perfect opportunity for Aaron.

"He knows the area, he's a Cardiff fan. If he's not going to get a chance at Cardiff City, where else is he going to get a chance of being a football manager?"

That is a sentiment shared by numerous Bluebirds supporters too, but one of Ramsey's coaching inspirations has urged caution.

Although Wales boss Craig Bellamy has backed Ramsey to manage "at a high level", he suggested earlier this season the Cardiff job might have become available a little too soon.

Former team-mates for Cardiff and Wales, now reunited as captain and head coach at international level, Ramsey and Bellamy enjoy a close working relationship.

Even outside of international windows, the two will meet at Dragon Park, the Wales National Football Development Centre in Newport, to discuss tactics and other aspects of the game.

It was no surprise, therefore, that Bellamy was Ramsey's first port of call when he was made Cardiff's caretaker manager some 48 hours before his first game in charge.

"I spoke to Bellers [Bellamy] quite a bit. He's helped me out quite a lot in that 24, 48 hours," Ramsey said after that match.

"We didn't have a lot of time to work on tactical things, so I didn't want to overload the players with too much information. We had a day to do that. We had to take in a bit from meetings, but it was more about trying to get your principles across and habits."

It was striking how similar Ramsey was to Bellamy as a coach, not only in the way he set up his team but in the way he spoke about the game afterwards.

Habits and principles are key buzzwords of Bellamy's burgeoning Wales tenure and, less than a year into the job, he has already had a major effect on his players – evident in Ramsey's three games in charge of Cardiff.

Like Bellamy, Ramsey's teams set out to be aggressive off the ball, pressing their opponents intensely and high up the field, while the aim in possession is to dominate, playing out from the back and attacking wherever possible.

Having spent a decade playing under Arsene Wenger at Arsenal, Ramsey will also take inspiration from the legendary three-time Premier League winner who signed him from Cardiff when he was 17 years old.

"I think what Arsene instilled in us is having that freedom to go and express ourselves, having that sense of confidence from him to go out there and to do that," said Ramsey.

"That's something that I'll take throughout my managerial career, giving the players the confidence to go out there and express themselves."

Young coaches making their way in the game often talk about the qualities they would like to take from their former bosses – while still maintaining their own clear identity, being their own person.

One thing Ramsey has ruled out for now is being a player-manager. Bellamy worked under Vincent Kompany while the former Manchester City captain played that dual role at Anderlecht, and the Wales head coach has warned Ramsey against doing the same.

That is not to say he would need to put his coaching on hold completely even if he was to continue in midfield.

When he was injured earlier this season, Ramsey sat in the stands and analysed games, sharing his findings with Cardiff's coaches on the touchline.

He already has his A Licence and next on his list will be the Pro Licence, the highest coaching qualification.

Ramsey has already taken his first steps in management but, before committing fully to life as a coach, the Wales captain must decide when he comes to the end of the road as a player.