Nick Mashiter, BBC Sport
It is a deal Aston Villa and Unai Emery would have preferred not to have done in an ideal world.
However, this is not that world but one in which teams must abide by profit and sustainability rules, and finances are tight at Villa Park.
A youth product like Ramsey would always be the asset to sell to generate pure profit and £40m will undoubtedly help Villa comply with the rules.
It was the same last year when they had to sell Douglas Luiz despite qualifying for the Champions League.
It would be churlish to call Villa purely a selling club now but they are not immune to financial pressures, as has been obvious over the past 18 months, and the failure to reach the Champions League this season will naturally have an effect.
Emery was a fan of Ramsey – he would have like to have kept him – but the manager is living in reality. He knows the landscape Villa must navigate, even if it may seem rocky.
Striker Evann Guessand has joined from Nice and there are likely to be more arrivals, perhaps even the return of Marco Asensio after his successful loan last season, but Villa must continue to outthink the bigger spenders.