Arsenal: New £20m Aaron Ramsdale transfer development

Arsenal Should Not be Signing Aaron Ramsdale

Not for £24m, anyway, and absolutely not for £40m, which is just absurd and probably a local paper doing their best to protect their club. But who knows.

It’s clear what Arteta is after in his squad building with the pursuit Ramsdale, but despite him being a lot better than most make out, there would need to be a lot of work on the training ground in order to mould him into the goalkeeper Arsenal want – and need.

While it can seem minor, the distribution element of a goalkeeper is incredibly important and takes longer than a few training sessions to fine-tune. There is a reason why teams who play out from the back look for keepers of a similar ilk instead of just signing the best shot-stopper and handler before teaching them the ins and outs of passing out from the back.

Ramsdale isn’t completely unfamiliar with that remit having been part of a Bournemouth side under Eddie Howe who liked to build from the back, but compared to his time at Bramall Lane where the mantra is kick it long and hard, he doesn’t quite suit the mould.

His distribution isn’t atrocious, it just isn’t quite at the level Arsenal should be after. It’s for this reason that both Freddie Woodman and David Raya have been keenly tracked, given the pair play, or played, for sides who demand such build-up.

With back-to-back relegations on his CV, Ramsdale has received his fair share of criticism, most of it unjustified considering he won his respective club’s Player of the Year in both those seasons, but some of it understandable.

There aren’t many goalkeepers who fit what Arsenal are after but a move for Ramsdale does have an air of the club Googling their desires and clicking on the first link.