Is Aaron Ramsey better than Gareth Bale? Well, Wales doesn't care

Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey (2011)

The summer was dominated by Gareth Bale and his transfer to Real Madrid. While we pondered the prospects of the Welshman rubbing shoulders with Cristiano Ronaldo and company throughout a hectic summer transfer window, another Welsh boy from the Cardiff commuter town of Caerphilly was slowly turning his stop-start Arsenal career into a prodigious one.

Aaron Ramsey seems to have transformed Arsene Wenger’s worries of another unsuccessful season for the Gunners into one of keeping the 22-year old in the team next summer and beyond. He scored his 12th and 13th goals of the season against his hometown club Cardiff City last evening that underlined his importance to Arsenal as a whole and the player’s overall improvement since the shock of a horrendous leg break at Stoke City in early 2010.

With Ramsey and Bale hogging the limelight this season for respective reasons, the little country of Wales on the west coast of the British Isle is looking forward to successful international recognition in the years to come when these two prodigious talents take the field together for the Welsh cause.

Now comes a very staggering question. Given Ramsey’s form for Arsenal and Wales and the way his every touch is bearing fruit for a club desperately wanting to land a silverware this season, and with Gareth Bale still finding his feet for Real Madrid and trying to win over a pretty demanding Santiago Bernabeu audience, who is the better performer, or even a better player? The question might not even arise given the variety of positions of the field these talented players operate on, but inevitably, throughout the rest of the season, the jury will be out on which Welshman is the country’s best since the great Welsh son Ryan Giggs.

Since his move to the hallowed lands of the Galacticos, the young Bale has found his professional and personal life under increased media scrutiny, and aided by injuries to the back and thigh, the start to his Real Madrid career was far from a fairytale. No doubt Ronaldo is the boss in Madrid and with Carlo Ancelotti trying to slot the two into an attack minded Los Blancos line-up, the 24-year-old former Spurs man sometimes looked confused about which position to play in.

The season’s first El Clasico at the Nou Camp saw Bale’s movements completely stifled by a tactically superior Barcelona and the Welshman was eventually substituted, raising alarm bells about whether the world record fee that Madrid paid would return to haunt them.

Yet the player is a class act and a future leader on the pitch, and as we head towards Christmas and New Year, Bale has started to do what he does best – score brilliant goals through free kicks and clever runs behind the opposition’s defence. With Ronaldo injured for the past couple of weeks Ancelotti has turned to his world record signing to provide the ammunition for goals sans the Portuguese star.

The free kick that the Welsh international scored against Galatasaray in the mid-week Champions League clash was testament to what lies in store in the Spanish capital in the near future. It was a trademark ferociously dipping free-kick, the kind that made him famous at White Hart Lane last season, and last night Bale grabbed his first hat-trick against Valladolid, quietly proving that without Ronaldo he will boss the Madrid forward line.

Gareth Bale of Real Madrid CF scores Real’s 4th goal and his hat-trick past Diego Marino of Real Valladolic CF.

But who is more effective – Ramsey or Bale? The Welsh national team boss Chris Coleman needs to use his tactical repertoire so as to afford both men in a set up that utilizes their potential to the maximum. Bale is a more forward moving player who can cut in from the wings at a devastating pace, but question marks remain over his ability to pressure the opposition at high up the pitch. And that is where Ramsey’s work ethic has been undeniably effective for Arsenal this season, and for Wales in the recently concluded 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign.

Last season’s Barclays Premier League was all about Gareth Bale and his exploits for Andre Villas-Boas’s Tottenham, and it’s a pity that his Wales captain was still finding his feet under Wenger’s watchful eyes. No one will ever know what this season would have looked like had Bale remained in England with Ramsey in the form of his life. But one thing is for sure – Ramsey has taken over the mantle from his international colleague in being the most talked about North Londoner this season, and that is Arsenal’s advantage over the Spurs and others this season.

Real Madrid’s world record signing is starting to score goals freely but more importantly, assisting the likes of Karim Benzema and Ronaldo to score goals. This is the old Bale that we know, yet Ramsey is having a much bigger impact at the Emirates week in and week out with his wonderful agility, movements from a deeper section and an all round performance that culminates in him having to launch profitable counter attacks from defensive positions.

What is most interesting and, of course, a tribute to the boy’s fitness and overall understanding of the game, is that he plays in a deeper role than Jack Wilshere but is scoring more freely from difficult areas than the England international. And all his goals this season are a result of some fine first touches that make all the difference.

Last evening’s headed goal from a Mesut Ozil cross at Cardiff was old-fashioned and would have made Olivier Giroud or any striker proud. His second goal, and Arsenal’s third, was even better as he made Theo Walcott‘s difficult chipped pass look extremely easy with a wonderful first touch before unleashing a ferocious finish past David Marshall. Ramsey may be listed as a box to box midfielder, but a tally of 13 goals in three and a half months of the 2013/14 season would exceed Arsene Wenger’s expectations of any midfielder for the whole season, let alone the first one-third of the season.

Mesut Ozil might have brought an X-factor to Arsenal’s performance this season, although the German is still to find his best form, but the Gunners’ season has been all about the former Cardiff City player who is finding small holes in every opposition’s defensive set up to rattle in the goals, in addition to breaking up the attack and assisting for his team’s cause.

Aaron Ramsey heads past Cardiff goalkeeper David Marshall to score for Arsenal.

No wonder Chris Coleman has made him the Welsh captain at the tender age of 22, and the boy will improve as the days progress.

“He has matured as a player and a person,” said Arsene Wenger after the 3-0 win over Cardiff.

“I was a midfield player and I would have loved to have had what he has. He can attack, defend, and he scores goals. He is also young, which is not a quality I have!

“I think he can still develop. He has developed so much over the past three years, so why stop now? If he continues to play like that, he has a good future.”

The player’s qualities were summed up by his manager in a few words, a manager who refused to lose belief in Ramsey’s abilities at the most difficult moment of his long managerial career at Arsenal.

Both Bale and Ramsey are extraordinary talents that any Welsh fan would relish to see play together at top international events. The former may be finding life tough in the posh environment of a demanding club like Real Madrid but the last few weeks have seen the player return to his old self with some great performances that everyone would expect from a world record signing. Bale is a lethal finisher both from open play and set pieces but not so good in dropping down and defending, while his international teammate and captain Aaron Ramsey takes the pressure off Arsenal’s back four and deep lying midfielders by breaking the play high up the pitch with his versatility, and moreover, the season so far has all been about his finishing and fine touches.

It is unfair to compare the two Welsh wizards. But what Ryan Giggs was never able to fulfil at the international level despite the enormity of his success at Manchester United could be fulfilled by the relatively young Ramsey and Bale when Wales bid to qualify for Euro 2016 in France. But their biggest contribution might come at the World Cup in Russia in 2018, when two of the world’s most talented players will be at their peaks.