Arsenal: 5 Aaron Ramsdale transfer alternatives

Most of the Arsenal world breathed a sigh of relief on Wednesday evening when a deal for one of the club’s top targets of the summer, their first choice in the goalkeeper department, Aaron Ramsdale, was discovered to be on the brink of collapse.

In dire need of a number two stopper this summer due to Mat Ryan’s departure and the lack of quality and experience in Alex Runarsson and Arthur Okonkwo respectively, securing Bernd Leno’s backup appeared as if it was closing in.

With negotiations to sign Aaron Ramsdale reaching the advanced stages, meetings held with Sheffield United were expected to find an amicable conclusion. However, a late twist in the tale saw the two clubs reach an impasse.

The Blades, who set their stall out at £35m, couldn’t be haggled down to a fee closer to Arsenal’s valuation, who had already seen two bids with a guaranteed fee under £20m knocked back. Belief of an agreement was expected but the Gunners informed the Yorkshire outfit that their demands were too high and they would seek other targets.

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Arsenal: 5 Aaron Ramsdale transfer alternatives after talks with Sheffield United collapse over both clubs’ valuation of the goalkeeper

An average goalkeeper statistically, spending around £30m would have constituted a baffling use of resources for someone set only to feature in cup games at most for 12 months. While still young and with room for improvement, the fee should have set the alarm bells ringing.

Fortunately it has, although the question remains why has it taken until a day before the Premier League season kicks off against Brentford for Arsenal to realise that Sheffield United were serious about their valuation?

It’s now all eyes on Leno’s hamstrings as every collision in the box and sprint to cover angles will be met with terrified looks of those crossing their fingers he gets through each minute unscathed.

So who are these ‘other targets’? While Ramsdale was the undisputed first choice, any club in their right mind will have drawn up a contingency list in case of disaster which, in the Gunners’ eyes, this will be.

The clock is ticking.

1. Andre Onana – Ajax

Starting with the fan favourite, it’s also worth starting with the least likely. Indeed, having been the only goalkeeper linked with a move to north London, Andre Onana now appears to be out of the question.

Having made inquiries for the Cameroonian who is still available on an incredible bargain fee, the inability to shift Leno during the summer has seen this move come to a halt. Of a Champions League standard, Onana is not someone who will be content with a number two slot which he may likely have to settle with for most if not all of the season.

Of course, he isn’t available to play from November anyway and Cameroon might want him for AFCON, limiting his time anyway, but this is someone who is the future of goalkeeping and if Arsenal want to elevate their game to the next level they might as well start from the back. Ben White was one such move towards that.

Someone known for his footwork and speed of thought, for the price in question – around £5m – he is the best option on the market even with considering his absence until later in the season.

Yet it would also constitute a serious rethink of transfer policy having worked hard on Ramsdale, someone who suits the criteria the club laid forward. It would be a (welcome) shock if they went back in for Onana.

Best to forget about this one.

2. Sam Johnstone – West Brom

Another option that doesn’t exactly set the pulses racing, if both Sam Johnstone and Ramsdale were the same age there is little doubting whatsoever that Arsenal would have opted for the Baggies’ stopper.

Given he is 28 years old, there is a reluctance.

Eyeing someone who can be moulded into the long-term number one, it makes sense to target someone younger. Yet, looking at the ability first of all, it was Johnstone who earned more sparkling reviews in last season’s Premier League.

There is no need delving into statistics which are often muddied by the quality of the team around them, so instead it could be worth looking at Johnstone making the England squad ahead of Ramsdale as another indicator.

Richly experienced, the West Brom keeper is hardly an elite goalkeeper and arguably slightly above average with less room to develop, but he’s also significantly cheaper than Ramsdale at around £10m.

With one year left on his deal and the Baggies in the Championship, financially it makes significantly more sense. Homegrown and familiar with the division, could Arsenal do better? They could do worse for a backup.

3. Freddie Woodman – Newcastle

What changed over the course of scouting that prompted Arsenal to shelve their interest in Freddie Woodman?

Someone the club have tracked for years – his dad used to work as a coach at Arsenal – even when last season’s Championship play-off final came about it was billed as the ideal showdown between to of the club’s targets.

With David Raya in net for Brentford and Woodman his opposite number for Swansea, the club that came out on top would be the one who presumably got to keep their stopper: the Bees would be able to price Arsenal out of a move and the Swans would sign Woodman permanently.

Did the latter’s mistake in that game convince otherwise? Ever since there have been fleeting reports of interest as other targets were pursued, even if Woodman was included in initial negotiations with Newcastle when Joe Willock’s future was being a discussed. A player-plus-cash bid was mooted.

Still on Tyneside after his second successive loan with the Swans ended, a move away appears on the cards for the 24-year-old who has established Magpies keepers ahead of him in the pecking order.

A proactive goalkeeper with good feet, at 24 he has the room to develop further and crucially is familiar with sides who build out from the back as opposed to lumping it forward. He’s also not going to break the bank.

Is this one back on?

4. A Stop-Gap Goalkeeper

Arsenal fans are sick of stop-gaps signings. It appears as if the club are drifting away from them too.

Mat Ryan was one such option and turned out to be a successful one, filling in for Leno on a handful of occasions and bolstering the numbers in a department where the club were weak. He has since moved on to new pastures as he sought regular first team football, leaving Arsenal back at square one.

Will they head down this route again?

Where one of the issues with such a decisions lies is in that bringing in a keeper on a season-long loan, for example, just presents another even more daunting position in 12 months’ time. It’s largely felt that Leno will be sold next summer when his contract enters its final year, meaning that while the stop-gap could be signed on, Arsenal will still have to sign another goalkeeper.

Possibly two if the temporary option doesn’t stay.

It’s another case of brushing the lego piece under the carpet only to step on it barefoot later and be faced with the same problem, only worse.

However, with a creative midfielder, right-back, striker and possibly another central midfielder to bring in before August 31, it would free up funds to spend elsewhere, by which time next summer Arsenal will be a Champions League club again and have loads of money spare.

That’s right, isn’t it?

5. A Goalkeeper Who Isn’t Homegrown

There is an insistence to sign a homegrown goalkeeper this window. There wasn’t initially, but that has change entirely over the course of the summer.

Why so? Is it because the club will sign Martin Odegaard instead of James Maddison and need to fill the quota? Is it because Arteta wants to continue building his English core with players who will become club stalwarts? Is it to do with the expected Brexit rules making homegrown players even more expensive in the future?

Who knows.

What we do know is that it severely limits the options available to Arsenal. Johnstone or Ramsdale? Is that really the best on offer? In this field of play, pretty much.

In that case, Arsenal could scrap the idea of a homegrown keeper and instead bring in a greater talent for half the price. Meet the quota elsewhere, either by keeping Ainsley Maitland-Niles or whatever needs doing, and go out and sign an exciting option to eventually take over the reins from Leno.

David Seaman was immense but he would have been equally immense if he was from Cambodia.