Former Gunner advised against player-coach role

Craig Bellamy has cautioned Aaron Ramsey against taking on a player-coach role at Cardiff City.

With the recent departure of Erol Bulut and the temporary appointment of Omer Riza, speculation has grown about the 33-year-old’s potential transition into coaching, especially since he earned his UEFA A Licence.

Bellamy expressed concerns about the challenges of balancing playing and coaching duties. Drawing from his experience with Vincent Kompany at Anderlecht, Bellamy believes that the dual role can be overly demanding.

“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.”

But Bellamy then stressed that such a role might be premature for Ramsey. “But I can’t see him being a player-coach at Cardiff this season. I’ve seen Vincent 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.”

He further elaborated on Kompany’s decision-making process, noting, “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, well known for his time at Arsenal, spent over a decade with the club, featuring in more than 350 games between 2008 and 2019. His time in north London saw him score decisive goals in two FA Cup finals, becoming a beloved figure among fans before making the move to Juventus in 2019.

Now back at Cardiff City, where he began his professional career, Ramsey has become a key player for both club and country.

Despite his recent hamstring injury, which will keep him out of the upcoming international fixtures against Iceland and Montenegro, Bellamy has been in regular contact with him. “I’m really disappointed for him that he picked up another injury. He was exceptional in the game against Turkey,” Bellamy said. “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.

“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.”