Being a teenage sensation must make for some surreal moments just months after signing your first professional contract.

Aaron Ramsey has long been in demand, despite being just 17 and signing his first professional contract merely six months ago. At the time, Premier League clubs were prepared to pay £1m for a midfielder who had barely played at Championship level, but that figure has jumped to £5m after an impressive season with FA Cup finalists Cardiff City and an impressive spell in the Wales U21 team.

In the space of several days this summer, wonderkid Ramsey has spoken to three of the top Premier League managers with a view to a move to the big time. He has since signalled his intention to become an Arsenal player, almost 18 months after scoring against them in the FA Youth Cup, buying into Arsene Wenger’s plans to achieve success with a team of brilliant youngsters.

His signing is now a formality, but where will he fit into Arsenal’s format of fast-moving attractive football?

He is a versatile midfielder, at times playing down the wing or in his preferred position in the centre for Cardiff, and can also play off a main striker or even at full-back. With Mathieu Flamini’s departure for Italy after a successful season in midfield, Wenger has been on the lookout for a player of similar quality to fill the void. In Ramsey, he has one of the most exciting British prospects to have emerged in recent years, something that should please Michel Platini and others who continually complain about the dominance of foreign imports in Wenger’s side.

Wenger has a club brimming with talent and it is difficult to see whether Ramsey will be given the chance to be Flamini’s replacement alongside Cesc Fabregas in the centre of midfield, or if he is to be employed down the wing. However, the youngter is by no means guaranteed a place anywhere in the starting XI. Fellow wonderkid Theo Walcott has yet to fully break through into the Arsenal first team despite more than double the price being paid for him, while Mexican sensation Carlos Vela is finally eligible to play football in England and will be expected to break through after impressing for his country in recent months.

Ramsey will not be used as an attacker, with Emmanuel Adebayor, Eduardo Da Silva, Vela, Robin van Persie, Nicklas Bendtner and Walcott all fighting for a place. Wenger, however, is a man who recognises talent and is keen to nurture it off the field before unleashing it, but with no loan-back deal available, Ramsey, like Walcott and others, could find his first year at the Emirates Stadium a frustrating one.

His international boss, John Toshack, is all for his youngsters signing for the top clubs in the Premier League, but insists they need to be playing regularly to play for Wales, and it is possible that Ramsey’s international career could stall until he finally breaks through.

Fabregas is guaranteed a starting place in the centre of the Arsenal midfield if fit, and then you can take your pick for the remaining three places. Gilberto Silva’s days are continually numbered with age against him, while many will see Denilson or Alexandre Song as the natural replacement for Flamini alongside Fabregas, with Emmanuel Eboue, Van Persie, Walcott, Tomas Rosicky and Aleksandr Hleb all in contention for a place down the flanks.

With the possible capture of at least one more midfielder this summer, Wenger will be moving into the luxury state of having quality strength in depth in a number of attacking positions, something which has added to their inability to win trophies in recent years.

Ramsey’s first year of Premier League football could be limited to bursts from the bench and Cup appearances, and he will have to prove to Wenger and his team-mates that he deserves to be a first-team player. He is an exciting prospect, and will be a welcome addition to the Arsenal midfield in the years to come.