Mikel Arteta reveals why Arsenal were so determined to sign Aaron Ramsdale

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has explained why he was so determined to make Aaron Ramsdale the club’s new starting goalkeeper back in 2021.

Bernd Leno was the Gunners’ number one when Arteta was appointed head coach in December 2019, though they ended the prolonged season with Emi Martinez between the sticks after the German suffered an injury.

Martinez’s desire for regular first-team football saw him join Aston Villa, and amid question marks over Leno’s suitability, Arsenal unsuccessfully pursued Brentford’s David Raya, who is now wanted by Chelsea, Man Utd and Tottenham.

Arsenal went through the 2020/21 season without a new goalkeeper, but spent the following summer desperately trying to bring in Ramsdale from relegated Sheffield United, eventually agreeing a £24m fee with the Blades.

Ramsdale has put in a few questionable performances between the sticks for Arsenal, but has upped his game during their Premier League title charge this year, notably putting in a superb display in last week’s 2-2 draw at Liverpool.

Arteta was quizzed about Ramsdale at a press conference on Friday, notably asked when he knew that the England stopper was the goalkeeper he desired.

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“When we played against him,” Arteta replied. “And 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.

“When you see the development he had the past two seasons, I 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. 

“He has no fear, he was just looking at the challenge ahead of him and that is what you want.”

Ok, obviously goalkeeping and goals-against stats are going to be skewed when you go from Bournemouth and Sheffield United to Arsenal, but Ramsdale’s improvement goes beyond just playing for a bigger and better team.

As Arteta heavily referenced, Ramsdale’s charisma and energy have benefitted an Arsenal backline which was previously labelled as soft and weak. He still has his head-loss moments, but rarely more so than the average goalkeeper.

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