WHEN Aaron Ramsey took the field as a Cardiff City substitute after 61 minutes, he became, at just 17, the second youngest player ever to figure in an FA Cup final. The list is a short but distinguished one. In the 1930 final Cliff Bastin of Arsenal, at outside-left, recently turned 18, coolly set up the first goal for his inside left, Alex James.

Since the war, Howard Kendall, at 17 played right-half for Preston North End against West Ham United, later becoming a star and the manager with Everton. Younger still was Paul Allen when he played for West Ham, winners against Arsenal and was fouled when he might well have gone through for goal.

Ramsey is very much a Cardiff development, so young that he has only just been sitting his O-levels. Will he stay with Cardiff? There are already rumours that they mean to sell him, unsurprising given their financial plight, and he would be an asset to any Premier League club despite his youth.

Meanwhile, David Jones, his manager, has tried of late to protect him from the press. But Ramsey on the field seems so precociously cool ahead that it was scarcely going to be necessary. “He probably had a little more legs because the others had given us everything we had,” said Jones. “No doubt we have a very special talent. We think we’ve done very well with him this year. Our coaching staff have nurtured him; we’ve brought him on. He’s something special. We hope it will be here. If we can keep him, we’ll try and get in the Premier League.”

Yesterday, against Portsmouth, he made an impact as soon as he came on. No 30 on his back, he first occupied the right wing, but it was soon clear that his appetite for the conflict was such that he had no intention of being isolated there. In no time at all, he was moving into the middle, eager for the ball, never hurried or intimidated when he got it. By the same token, he never made a common mistake of youth by selfishly hanging onto it. When he had beaten an opponent, or more than one, he was looking to lay off the ball to a better placed colleague.

One remembers especially how he came into the game after 75 minutes. Picking up the ball at inside left, he made progress with it then gave a precise ball to his left flank. A minute more and he popped up at outside right, producing a high accurate cross. But best and most spectacular of all was the moment when getting the ball in the box, he refused to shirk responsibility by giving a speculative pass, turning cleverly past two players before finding his right back Kevin McNaughton who duly sent it.

Previously, one had seen his eagerness to be involved when, having set his team on the move and staying in the centre, he held up his arms, begging for a return ball.

The question obviously arises, as it has done this season with Arsenal and the potentially dynamic Walcott, should Ramsey have been on from the first? Obviously, Jones will be anxious not to tire him but it was surely arguable that, had he been there from the beginning, he might have given Cardiff those flashes of inspiration which overall they lacked and which could well have turned the game, decided, after all, by an arguably fortuitous goal.

If he’s good enough, then he is logically old enough, as even Inter Milan are showing at the moment with Mario Balotelli a 17-year-old striker of Ghanaian origin, brought up in Palermo, already allowed to take almost every free kick and right wing corner.

If Ramsey does leave Cardiff in the summer, it is hoped that he will move to a Premier League club which does not keep him on the substitutes’ bench. He showed yesterday with his surprising technique and maturity and commitment, that he deserves a great deal better than that.

As Portsmouth tired in the closing stages, his presence seemed to inspire a Cardiff revival which came measurably close to forcing a draw. We shall watch his progress with enormous interest. Meanwhile Wales themselves have surely found the best young prospect they have had for many years.