Arsenal’s 4 biggest surprises so far this season

Aaron Ramsdale Silencing His Doubters

£30m on a backup goalkeeper? Sam Johnstone was available for a fraction of the price, and so too was Freddie Woodman. What were Arsenal thinking?

Oh, and don’t forget that he’d suffered three relegations in four seasons and was joining from a Sheffield United side whose style of play involved hoofing the ball as long as possible from a goal kick onto David McGoldrick’s head. All these factors made such little sense.

Not to everyone, though. And blimey, how wrong so many people (guilty!) have been.

Even the goalkeeping experts across the footballing world tried their best to make sense of the deal. Sure, Aaron Ramsdale had the potential to be a starting goalkeeper for Arsenal in the future, but his underlying metrics suggested he wouldn’t even be an upgrade on Bernd Leno…and for £30m?!?!?

What this young man has done since has been outstanding. He’s completely changed how Arsenal set up, added variance to the build-up and demonstrated distribution that drew comparisons to none other than Ederson.

The whole backline communicates with each other, fights for each other and is better organised. Confidence is so crucial in this sport and this is a defensive unit that now trusts each other.

Ramsdale has been a revelation, and even if many could foresee a future for him, precious few, if any, saw him being as brilliant as he has, as soon as he has.

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