Three possible destinations for Aaron Ramsey

It's been 10 years since Aaron Ramsey joined Arsenal from Cardiff City for around £5m. He arrived at the Emirates Stadium as an 18 year-old with a growing reputation in the game already after impressing for his boyhood club, reportedly turning down Manchester United to join Arsene Wenger's side. His time in North London has been fairly mixed but no one can argue that he's been a hugely influential player for the club. He's become a mainstay in the Gunners engine room during his time there, becoming one of the Premier League's finest box-to-box midfielders which means when his inevitable departure comes around it'll be a major blow.

It's common knowledge to the fans that he will indeed be leaving the Emirates at the end of the season when his contract expires, with a number of top clubs reportedly battling it out to secure his signature. Arsenal will be keen to hang onto him until the expiry of his deal but there's bound to interest in him in January, so it'll be intriguing to see if the Gunners can resist the offers they'll receive for him. They found themselves in a similar situation 12 months ago with Alexis Sanchez, where they eventually cashed in on him instead of letting him leave on a free so it's going to be interesting to see how they handle it this time around. We've assessed Ramsey's options below and given our view on where we think he should go along, so read below to see what we think...

Bayern Munich are currently the favourites to sign the Welshmen with SkyBet and we think this is by far the best option on paper for him if he is to leave Arsenal. Ramsey is yet to win a domestic league title in his career and by joining Bayern he'd have a fantastic shot at doing that, with them really only competing with Borussia Dortmund for the Bundesliga - not like the immensely challenging Premier League. He'd also be joining a side that regularly progresses through to the latter stages of the Champions League, with them still involved in the semi-finals or further in 6 of the previous 7 seasons - which makes it a very attractive proposition on paper.

Game time could potentially be a concern as he'd be competing with the likes of Thiago, Corentin Tolisso, Renato Sanches and Leon Goretzka for a spot in the middle but Bayern involved in so many competitions he could force his way into the XI with some decent performances. However, with Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben not getting any younger there is an opportunity to go in there and stake a serious claim for a starting berth, so we think Ramsey should definitely consider moving to Germany. It's extremely different to the Premier League but he will look to the success of his Wales teammate Gareth Bale who also ventured outside of England - he moved to Real Madrid and has since won 11 pieces of silverware including 4 Champions League titles.

Another thing that could work in Bayern's favour is the rumours of Arsene Wenger joining the club. Current boss Niko Kovac is under heavy pressure after a below par start to his reign in Bavaria and the Frenchmen is strongly linked with replacing him. Wenger is the man who convinced Ramsey to join Arsenal and the pair are understood to have a fantastic relationship - so should the 69 year-old make the move to the Bundesliga he could play a major role in convincing Ramsey to follow him.

Currently second favourite in the betting and another attractive option on paper are AC Milan. The Serie A outfit have been a bit of a fallen giant in recent years, with them struggling to emulate the success that saw them dominate domestically and continentally during the 90's & 00's. But over the last couple of seasons there's been a big improvement and investment which has raised the expectation level at the San Siro. Big money has been shelled out luring the likes of Gonzalo Higuian, Mattia Caldara, Hakan Calhanoglu and Lucas Biglia to Milan among several others which resulted in a 6th placed league finish and a trip to Rome for the Coppa Italia Final. They are a massive club and come next season they could easily find themselves in the Champions League if they can maintain their decent start to the season - so there's plenty of reasons to join.

However, one major sticking point is the dominance of Juventus and even Napoli to an extent in Serie A. These two clubs have been a million miles ahead of other sides in Italy over the last couple of seasons, with Juve far and away Italian footballs super power. They've won the last 7 Serie A titles and with Cristiano Ronaldo now in their ranks it doesn't look like their success is going to dry up anytime soon. Joining Milan would certainly represent a challenge for Ramsey but with him now at the age of 27 and entering the prime years of his career, we think he'll want to join a club that is immediately competing for trophies - not one that's in the Europa League and miles behind in the title race.

Ramsey is someone who's been held in high regard by the Arsenal fans during his time in North London so to move across the country to one of their rivals is certainly something that wouldn't go down well. Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool have been credited with an interest in signing him and it's a move that certainly makes sense on paper for the Reds. James Milner isn't getting any younger and he certainly represents an upgrade on paper for Jordan Henderson - so a free transfer would be incredibly attractive for Klopp. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain made this move last season which left his relationship with the Gunners supporters in tatters but after seeing how well he fared on Merseyside it could convince Ramsey to try his hand up north.

Liverpool are clearly a club on the up at the moment with them looking like Manchester City's main challengers for the Premier League title and their appearance in last seasons Champions League Final only backs that up. Klopp's 'heavy metal' brand of pressing football would certainly suit Ramsey's attributes too, for years at Arsenal he's played slightly deeper to accomodate the likes of Santi Cazorla or Mesut Ozil. At Liverpool he would play in a 3 man midfield and be given the license to bomb on and support their prolific forward line, which should result in a lot more goal contributions for him. All-in-all if he is to stay in England we think that Liverpool would be a perfect fit for him, but a challenge abroad looks like a much better option for him and would give him a great chance of picking up silverware.