Aaron Ramsey’s Arsenal career is over after it emerged he will miss the rest of the season with a hamstring injury.
The midfielder was substituted after 34 minutes of the Gunners’ Europa League quarter-final second leg win at Napoli.
It was hoped Ramsey, 28, might feature before the end of the Premier League campaign or a potential Europa League final but he needs longer to recover.
He will leave Arsenal when his contract expires on 30 June and join Italian champions Juventus as a free agent.
The club issued an update on Ramsey’s injury on Wednesday, stating he will continue to “receive treatment and further assessment” and confirmed he will miss Thursday’s Europa League semi-final first leg against Valencia.
Arsenal manager Unai Emery paid tribute to the Wales midfielder.
“For me, it was a good experience to work with every player and with him especially, because he can transmit his energy and he showed me his heart is red with Arsenal,” he said.
“I said to him one month ago that I wanted to do something important in his last matches with us at the moment – maybe he can come back in the future.”
Ramsey moved to Arsenal in 2008 from Cardiff City and is their longest-serving current player.
The Welshman was in talks over a new deal, but Arsenal withdrew the offer in September for football and financial reasons.
He has scored six goals in 40 appearances this season and 64 in 369 games since moving to Emirates Stadium for £4.8m.
Ramsey scored the winning goals in the 2014 and 2017 FA Cup finals, also lifting the trophy in 2015.
His injury means Wales manager Ryan Giggs will be sweating on his condition ahead of crucial Euro 2020 qualifiers in Croatia on Saturday, 8 June and Hungary on Tuesday, 11 June.
BBC