Mikel Arteta spoke to The Evening Standard recently on how he knew Aaron Ramsdale was the right man to be the Arsenal number one for years to come and more…
Aaron Ramsdale joined Arsenal from a relegated Sheffield United side in August 2021 for a fee of £28million. The transfer initially came under a lot of scrutiny, especially from Arsenal fans, with the player receiving many messages of abuse before he even kicked a ball for the club.
The £28million fee was seen as too much by many fans for a goal keeper who had been relegated from the Premier League twice in his previous two seasons. However Mikel Arteta disagreed with the outside noise and believed the England international was good enough to be the Gunners’ number one for years to come.
Aaron Ramsdale came in and quickly dislodged Bernd Leno’s place in the side within only a few months of arriving. The 24-year-old admitted he was brought into the team even quicker than he expected, however he always believed he was good enough to be the Arsenal number one and that’s why he was so desperate for the transfer to get over the line.
Mikel Arteta speaking on Aaron Ramsdale and when/how the Arsenal boss knew he was the right man to be the club’s number one:
“When we played against him in 2020/21 & obviously I watched him a lot and that presence and that energy he had, I thought this is the one.
He has been really, really good and probably against the odds because when you look at his past and where he was coming from, he got relegated twice, it was difficult to imagine it.
But we saw he had that character, charisma and personality to play for our club and he had the potential qualities to feed into our way of playing.”
Aaron Ramsdale of Arsenal. [Image Credit: Getty Images]
Aaron Ramsdale ended up playing 34 times in the Premier League for Arsenal last season, keeping 12 clean sheets in the process. This season the England International has gone up another level and is a big reason why the club are currently fighting to win their first league title in 19 years.
The 24-year-old has played all 30 games for Arsenal in the Premier League this season and has already kept the same amount of clean sheets as last season (12) with eight games left to play.
He’s in with a great shout of winning the Premier League golden glove this season in only his second season at a top club.
Mikel Arteta went on to speak about how well Aaron Ramsdale has done since arriving in North London and also the keepers mentality:
“When you see the development he had the past two seasons, think he is exceptional. The first day I was on the phone to him, I said: ‘Let’s do it, let’s do it’.
Because you have that feeling, you sense when someone is mentally strong.
And any question you ask him to see how he will answer, he is ready for it, he has seen ahead, he knows what is coming and he knows what he wants and he feels capable of doing it.”
