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‘Ramsey found out how much he wants it’

Arsene Wenger believes that Aaron Ramsey used his recovery time from the serious injury he suffered at Stoke to realise “how much he wants it”.

The Welshman was sidelined for nine months after fracturing his tibia and fibula in a Premier League game at the Britannia Stadium in February 2010.

Ramsey was outstanding in Wednesday’s 3-0 win against Fenerbahce and his manager is not surprised that the midfielder is growing into an important first-team player.

"You have to believe in your players, especially when they are young. Every month, if they have he right attitude, they will be stronger"

Arsene Wenger

“His improvement is blatant,” Wenger told Arsenal Player. “I said that many times - our fans have to be behind the players because one year ago, nobody would have imagined that Ramsey would be at that level now.

“You have to believe in your players, especially when they are young. Every month, if they have he right attitude, they will be stronger.

“We have not only the chance but as well the merit to have all these young players together and you want them to be encouraged. It's as well nice to see that under pressure, they respond with a good performance.

“You know a player who is injured before the age of 20, he gets back to a level he was at before and he improves like nothing has happened before. The stats show that.

“It took him a while of course because it was not a simple injury. Because he was so young, what happened to him will not have damaged his career. He shows that now.

“I believe as well the fact that he was out for such a long time, he had to think about his career [and] think about how much he wants it. Sometimes, the suffering in your life, if you turn it in a positive way, can be helpful.

"Of course you do not want to wish anybody to be injured like that. We all go through periods in our life where things are not as easy as you think it can be and it's what kind of use you make out of it [that matters]. I think he used that in a very positive way."