Wales international and former Arsenal man Aaron Ramsey has had a peculiar career over the years. Having joined the Gunners at 17, the Welshman came directly into Arsene Wenger’s first team while a bunch of other talented youngsters such as Jack Wilshere and Wojciech Szczesny were deemed fit only for the youth team.
Alongside Wilshere, Ramsey was considered as one of the best acquisitions of the 2008-09 summer window for the club given his footballing talent and his young age. It was Wenger himself who described the midfielder as “a player with a fantastic engine, good build, good technique and good vision.”
While Ramsey picked up four FA Cups during his time at Arsenal, he completed his 11-year stay with the north London side without winning a single Premier League title and could only manage a semi-final finish at best in the Champions League.
Although his move to Juventus in 2019 secured him a maiden league title in Europe, Ramsey lost two Europa League finals (Arsenal 2018-19) with the latest coming with Rangers last season.
At the age of 31, there is still plenty of football left in the Welshman and perhaps he is determined to secure European silverware now having moved to the French side OGC Nice.
What is the Aaron Ramsey Curse?
Besides his popularity as an Arsenal and Wales star, Ramsey has also been a much-talked-about figure among football fans because of the phenomenon known as the ‘Aaron Ramsey Curse’.
Since as far back as 2009, there have been various occasions where a Ramsey goal is followed up by the death of a celebrity in the next few days. Given the recurring nature of this phenomenon, supporters have concluded that there is some strange connection between the otherwise unrelated events.
Now, it appears that the Welshman’s curse has once again returned. After the 31-year-old netted the equaliser against Ligue 1 side, Toulouse, on Sunday, news broke out that songwriter and actress Olivia Newton-John passed away at the age of 73.
The British-Australian was a four-time Grammy award winner for her songs in the 70s and the 80s also rose to fame for her appearance in the cult-classic Hollywood movie Grease (1978) alongside superstar John Travolta.
While the OBE (Order of the British Empire) recipient passed away as she was battling cancer, for football fans, the celebrity, unfortunately, becomes the latest victim of the Ramsey curse.
Here is a list of some of the biggest names to have succumbed to the Ramsey curse:
Osama Bin Laden – May 2, 2011 – following a goal against Manchester United
Steve Jobs – October 5, 2011 – following a goal against Tottenham Hotspur
Whitney Houston – February 11, 2012 – following a goal against Sunderland
Paul Walker – November 30, 2013 – following a goal against Cardiff City
Robin Williams – August 11, 2014 – following a goal against Manchester City
Out of Ramsey’s 76 goals for club and country, more than 20 of them have been followed up by the death of a celebrity.
When asked in an interview about the conspiracy theory propagated by football fans back in 2015, the former Arsenal man discounted it as a crazy rumour but at the same time also acknowledged that his apparent curse took out some “baddies” perhaps referring to the death of Osama Bin Laden.
As the Ligue 1 midfielder is set to play the Qatar World Cup with Wales in November, it remains to be seen if the Ramsey curse will strike once again much to the displeasure of the celebrities who would be watching the annual footballing carnival unfold.
