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Arsenal chief Raul Sanllehi reveals ONE mistake he vows Gunners will never repeat
ARSENAL director of football Raul Sanllehi insists the Gunners will not allow players to run down their contracts and leave on free transfers following the loss of Aaron Ramsey.
The Welsh midfielder failed to agree a new deal at the Emirates and will join Juventus, where he has penned a contract reportedly worth around £400,000-a-week, this summer.
Aaron Ramsey is Arsenal’s longest-serving player having been with the north London outfit for 11 years and is also one of their stand-out stars.
The club’s management of the situation, failing to sell him before he ran his deal down, has been widely criticised given Ramsey could arguably have pocketed them upwards of £30million a year ago.
But Spanish chief Sanllehi insists Arsenal will not allow the club to repeat its mistakes, with the club reportedly keen to tie key strikers Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang down to new deals.
Asked if there was an error made in the process to allow Ramsey to leave for nothing, Sanllehi admitted to the club's official website: “Yes. At the end of the day, the problem, the real essence of the problem, was that we had reached the last year of the contract.
“I think Vinai mentioned it at the beginning of this interview, one of our priorities is not to get to the last year of contracts.
“This is the example. This is the reason why.
“The only way to get to the end of a contract is when you are ready to release that player at the end of that contract.
It's not correct for us
“But if you really want to keep that player, you need to renew him before getting to the last year of the contract because you are putting yourself in a very weak position.
“We cannot get to the last year of the contract. If we cannot get a renewal before that, then we may have to sell.
“But the position of the club, of losing a player of the quality - and not only the football quality but the human quality and club identification - of Aaron, we have to avoid that.
“It's not correct for us.”
Arsenal legend Ray Parlour claimed earlier this month that Ramsey - who cried when he said his goodbyes to Arsenal fans in their final home game of the season - is “gutted” to be leaving despite his impending switch to Serie A.
Former midfielder Parlour told talkSPORT: “He is gutted that he is leaving.
“We can talk about the financial [side of it], whatever his representatives wanted, but he loved the club, he really did.
“He’s been there over ten years and it’s heart-breaking to see someone who really wants to play for the club leave.”