Craig Bellamy makes definitive statement on Aaron Ramsey's future (original) (raw)

Wales boss Craig Bellamy says he can "definitely see" Aaron Ramsey going into management at some stage in the future, but has urged him not to become a player-manager at managerless Cardiff City.

Bellamy is busy preparing his side for their upcoming Nations League matches against Iceland (Friday, 7.45pm) and Montenegro (Monday, 7.45pm) but is doing so without the services of Ramsey, who is currently sidelined through injury.

The skipper featured in the opening two games of Bellamy's tenure - the morale-boosting draw with Turkey and the win in Montenegro last month. Sign up to our Cardiff City newsletter here.

But it has been a frustrating opening to the new season for Ramsey, who has seen his club side Cardiff City sink to the bottom of the Championship table, disposing of the services of Erol Bulut as manager along the way.

Bellamy believes management is in Ramsey's future but distanced his former team-mate from taking the plunge into any sort of player-coach this season amid Cardiff's hunt for Bulut's successor.

"In the future I definitely see Aaron going into management," Bellamy said. "I think it’s starting to circle in his mind, as it usually does later on in your career. I’m quietly confident he will see that part of the game is for him.

"With his experience and knowledge, and his understanding of the game, I would be surprised if it wasn’t at a really high level.

"I can’t see him being a player-coach at Cardiff this season. I’ve seen Vincent Kompany do it and it is really difficult. That was the first time I saw it really close up. I’d not been exposed to it, playing-wise. I’d probably not recommend it after seeing Vinny doing that at Anderlecht.

"I think he felt that as well and decided he was either going to carry on playing or become a manager. He chose the managerial route. It’s a difficult one."

Ramsey certainly has the necessary qualities and footballing IQ to transfer across into management; he appears to see the game differently to others at times, helped by the fact he has played at the highest levels possible with Arsenal and Juventus in the Champions League.

He is a student of the game, and Bellamy believes from his own relationship with the Bluebirds product that he possesses the nous to succeed on the touchline. Despite being absent for the upcoming fixtures, the head coach hopes to have Ramsey in and around the camp regardless.

"I speak to Aaron quite a lot and I try to involve him in tactically what we try to do," he added. "He comes down to Dragon Park to see me quite a bit and we go through certain stuff.

"I have a very good relationship with Aaron by knowing his father from the same area. I’ve known Aaron since he was five and I knew he was going to be a professional footballer even then, which is very rare. That allows us to have a good level of communication.

"I’m really disappointed for him that he picked up another injury. He was exceptional in the game against Turkey when he started. He did everything we asked of him in the role he played. The chances we created, if you look back on them, they all came from Aaron. He is a clever footballer and he showed that during that game.

"It’s disappointing he can’t be with us, but he isn’t going to miss out on too much because I’ll keep him updated and I believe he might be with us on camp during this period. There will be another set of information we’ll want to feed into him over a 10-day period and another two games.

"There will be different ways to attack and to defend against Iceland and hopefully he will be exposed to that."

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