Wenger Reveals How He Turned Misfit Ramsey Into Arsenal Star

Arsene Wenger has explained how he helped Aaron Ramsey become Arsenal's Player of The Season - after overcoming some difficult times.

The Wales midfielder was considered one of the most exciting prospects in Britain when the Gunners signed him from Cardiff as a teenager for £5m in June 2008.

However in 2010 he suffered a broken leg, and in subsequent seasons his future came under intense scrutiny.

Following two unsuccessful loans at Nottingham Forest and Cardiff, Ramsey returned to the Emirates Stadium, where he continued to struggle and was barracked by large sections of the Arsenal support.

"He went through a bad patch, and I couldn't play him any more at Emirates Stadium," Wenger has told Arsenal's official website.

But Wenger gave Ramsey another chance to prove his worth and the Wales midfielder took it to become the Player of the Season last year, scoring 16 goals in 34 appearances and being one of the best players in the Premier League during the first half of the campaign.

"I sat down with Aaron and I told him, 'I don't think people don't like you, but they don't like your game at the moment'. It was in his hands to change that" Wenger said.

"He had to come back to a more simple game. When you go through a bad patch in life you always go back to the basics. In football you slowly get confidence back and then you play naturally again.

"The problem is that if you play a great shot in golf or tennis, when you go to your next game you want to play the same shot again. But it doesn't work like that. You have to do basics, basics, basics, and then slowly you get into the zone where it becomes easier.

"You have to get back to basics to gain confidence. Aaron accepted that, he did it and he gained confidence again. Then you saw a different player, because he is intelligent, and when I came out of the meeting I knew this guy would come back. Aaron listened and he realised he had to change his game. That's why he came back."