Press conference

Emery on Ramsey contract and N’Zonzi rumours

Aaron Ramsey before our friendly against Chelsea in Dublin
Aaron Ramsey before our friendly against Chelsea in Dublin

Aaron Ramsey’s contract situation, our performance against Chelsea and the possibility of new recruits before the transfer deadline.

Unai Emery addressed all of those topics in his post-match press conference in Dublin on Wednesday night.

Read on for a transcript:

on Aaron Ramsey’s contract situation…

It’s one question for the club and another for the player. I am very, very concentrated and my focus is thinking everyday about the training, the players and the match on Saturday against Lazio, and then against Manchester City.

on if he’s thought about what he’ll do if Ramsey doesn’t sign…

I think my opinion is clear, I want him to be with us, but then it’s one question for the player and the club. My opinion is professional and is in the interest of the team.

on the team’s performance…

We are very happy with the 90 minutes because I think the performance was getting better throughout the match after the first goal. But I think it’s also good because in this moment we need to stay together and react to these moments in the game, and then I think we controlled he match with possession, had good positioning on the pitch and created lots of chances which led to the goal. For that, I think the performance tonight was good and it will help us in our preparation for the start of the competition. After this, it’s clear that the problems tonight were Aaron Ramsey – but that’s not a big issue – and then Kolasinac because he’s injured his leg. We’re waiting for the medical analysis to find out what this injury is.

on whether he’s interested in N’Zonzi…

At the moment I’m very happy with the players that are here with us. We also have others still to come, like Nacho Monreal, Lucas and Xhaka, who will start to get minutes on Saturday. I am telling you that we’re speaking inside and we are OK. There is only a possibility that we sign someone if it’s a good opportunity.

on how his centre forwards played…

I am very happy with their positioning off the ball and breaking the opposition’s lines. Then for the finishing, we want to continue on improving that, but we have very, very good strikers in Lacazette, Aubameyang and Nketiah. For me, the best situation tonight is that our striker took his chance tonight and grabbed the goal.