Arsenal: 2 new goalkeeper targets amid Aaron Ramsdale links

Arsenal Watching Neto and Sam Johnstone as Goalkeeper Targets

When drawing up a list of homegrown goalkeeper options Arsenal could target in this window to meet their criteria as reported, it didn’t make for especially enticing viewing. It really was slim pickings.

One of the players on that list was Sam Johnstone, who Alex Wood has down as an option for £20m. Despite conceding more goals than any other keeper in the Premier League last season, the overriding consensus was that Johnstone was far from the primary culprit.

He made the most saves of any goalkeeper – poor defences tend to help in that regards – and clocked up a post-shot expected goals minus goals allowed tally of +0.12 over the past year (positive figures demonstrate an above average ability to stop shots) which give him an 86th percentile ranking.

Johnstone is a solid goalkeeper. He isn’t someone adept with his feet and at 28 years old he doesn’t quite suit the profile, but as a number two he’s about the best homegrown, backup option around. Not much to set the pulses racing, but then No. 2 keepers rarely do. While £20m does seem like a push for someone with 12 months left on his deal, it’s still better than Ramsdale’s £35m price tag. Weak links, but logical ones.

Another option who won’t have supporters jumping from the rooftops is Neto. Someone Arsenal were linked with back in January as they aimed to sign a stop-gap keeper, reports are that the Brazilian, known for his footwork, is still on Arteta’s radar.

It just doesn’t make any sense and feels extremely club driven. It’s Mundo Deportivo who state that Arsenal are frontrunners for his signature, with Neto also very keen on the move. Classic ‘unbiased’ Spanish media. Where there is legs to this one, however, is that Neto is, of course, a Kia Joorabchian client. That sadly gives it credence.

Barcelona are in utter turmoil and any effort to relieve their wage bill so they can legally register new players will be pursued. If that means drumming up fake interest to entice other bidders, then so be it. Neto has played 17 games in two seasons and is said to earn around £100k-per-week.

If Arsenal were to abandon their plans for a homegrown keeper then they wouldn’t do so with 31-year-old Neto. It would constitute a radical change in strategy for a player whose professional situation would remain as a benchwarmer.

Arsenal have to keep their options open with the impressively stubborn Sheffield United unlikely to cave in to outside pressure to sell their most prized assets at below their valuations.

In the case of all three of the options mentioned, fitting the homegrown quota elsewhere in the squad would open up cheaper and more suitable targets. This is set up to be an expensive area to fill with the players’ worth not fairly reflected.