The Athletic UK Arsenal correspondent James McNicholas wrote the latest column, and he directly threw a question to Arsenal fans - why did Arsenal sign Ramsdale?
(The following is an excerpt from the column)
If Ramsdale is sure to be warmly welcomed at Arsenal's training ground (TA mentions that he and Saka are good friends), the social media welcome is less enthusiastic.
Arsenal fans are also notoriously fond of fighting each other internally, with fierce debates about almost every decision Arsenal makes. However, signing the 23-year-old Ramsdale seems to have brought fans to a certain consensus: they are asking why Arsenal decided to spend £24m or even more in the future to sign a second goalkeeper who has been relegated with the team for the past two seasons?
Inside Arsenal, however, they are happy that they have finally signed Ramsdale. Arsenal's pursuit of Ramsdale goes back to the end of last season – they have been keeping a close eye on him since the summer of 2020. At the time, some at the club thought he was a brilliant candidate to succeed Amy Martinez, but by the time the Argentine agreed to join Aston Villa, Ramsdale had already joined Sheffield United from relegated Bournemouth.
Rumsdale, who previously played for Sheffield United's youth team, spent around £18m on this move back to Yorkshire, meaning Arsenal had to pay for Sheffield United's profitability in 12 months. The price Arsenal ended up paying — £24m, plus a £6m add-on that could be paid — shows one thing: Arsenal don't see Ramsdale as just a "substitute".
Like Manchester United, Chelsea and other top teams, Arsenal also want to have two goalkeepers who can compete for a place in the squad. Last season, Arsenal signed Runarson and Matt Ryan at a low price. However, Arteta didn't have enough confidence to give up the German when Leno was in poor shape, so Ramsdale was prepared for Leno's poor form.
In addition, Ramsdale is also expected to be Arsenal's final goal, as Arsenal will pay the £6m add-on that was triggered if he does.
Ramsdale's value has attracted the most attention, which is understandable: among England goalkeepers, only Jordan Pickford is worth more than Ramsdale. In terms of total transfer fees, Ramsdale's second transfer in 12 months would make him one of the most expensive goalkeepers in history.
But sheffield Union's initial asking price was even crazier, £40 million. Arsenal's third £20m + £10m additional terms offer was rejected last week and negotiations broke down at one point. But in the end, after frantic negotiations between the two sides and the intervention of intermediaries, the two sides finally reached a compromise.
Arsenal executives realised they were spending more money on Ramsdale than they had spent on Martinez 11 months ago, and they finally understood how expensive the so-called account book bonus was, and that there was also a certain account book premium in Ben White's £50 million.
However, Arsenal's demand for another goalkeeper outweighed concerns about price, and they opted to back Arteta.
Arsenal have several criteria for selecting a goalkeeper, and in a way, the hukou is very important, so that's why they didn't sign the Australian international Ryan in a sign form. In the coming years, Arsenal are looking to return to Europe, with a registration limit of 17 non-registered players making them not want to spend valuable spots on goalkeepers.
Arteta also insisted he wanted a goalkeeper who was good at carrying the ball, under espanyol, and possession of the ball in the backline had become the basis of Arsenal's tactical style, initially targeting Brentford goalkeeper David Raya, who had been chasing him last summer, but Raya eventually stayed in Brentford. The new treaty signed by Raya and Bee has a termination clause that will expire if they rise to the top. During the 2020-21 season, Arsenal began to work on options – it was later learned that the Bees had advanced through the play-offs, so Arsenal would need to pay more to sign Raya.
As a result, Ramsdale became the number one target on the candidate list.
Although that season at Sheffield United he preferred long passes, the staff studied his previous performances at Bournemouth and England u21 and believed he was capable of completing short passes with higher precision, and Arsenal also appreciated his courage to advance with the ball and the accuracy of the ball with his hands.
Video scouting played an important role in this decision, and while Arsenal have conducted statistical analysis of goalkeepers, the models are currently less complex than those of other players. As a result, coaching staff tend to have a more positive role, making qualitative judgments based on style and character. Arteta was personally involved in the process. It was clear that Ramsdale was his choice.
In addition to some excellent data in the data judgment, another attraction is the personality of Ramsdale, who is considered a very good professional player, and in a way he is very retro.
Martinez had already tasted what it was like to be a door, and he didn't want to wait any longer. People inside Arsenal believe that if Martinez had been assigned to play as a second goalkeeper again, they would have left a player with obvious grievances.
He used the example of Ramsdale in the national team to show that he is not afraid of competition, but if he wants to prove that the idea of those who are skeptical of him is wrong, and to survive in this spotlight and public opinion environment of the giants, he needs a strong psychological quality. And his optimistic personality is one of the reasons Artetta wants him, Ramsdale is a very talkative goalkeeper: this is also where he differs from Leno: "He has always been like this," Bayes said, "I think it's a sign of his confidence." ”
In fact, no player of the same age or younger age has played more time in Europe's major leagues than he has in the last two seasons.
23 is a very young age for goalkeepers, and Arsenal have also examined Johnstone in West Brom, but Arsenal believe it is inappropriate for Johnstone to be 5 years older than Ramsdale.
Arsenal fans are not interested in Ramsdale's arrival in part because the club had been linked to the transfer of Ajax goalkeeper André Onana earlier in the summer. However, while Arsenal did engage the 25-year-old Cameroon international on a potential transfer, the two sides never came too close to reaching an agreement. Onana's ban runs until 4 November, and Arsenal desperately need a reliable Leno substitute. What's more, Onana's camp has realized that he may be more attractive to his next home when his contract expires next summer.
The interesting question now is what Ramsdale's arrival means for Leno. Leno, 29, has two years left on his contract and has yet to negotiate any potential contract extension. More and more people feel that his time at Arsenal may be coming to an end, and Ramsdale's ambitions will replace the German as arsenal as soon as possible.
Arsenal desperately needed to solve the goalkeeper's problem, and they finally solved it, and the Klenks, who were often given away full piano pieces, really invested money. However, this summer's Signing for Arsenal is somewhat of a future for you – none of the five players are over 23.
After hardly a single player has been named to Southgate's European Squad this summer, Arsenal now have a squad of England internationals like Ramsdale + Saka + White + potential Smith Rowe.
Many fans still don't believe Arsenal's decision to sign Ramsdale, but at least they now know why they chose to do so.
Time will tell if Arteta was right about the young goalkeeper.
(Editor: Yao Fan)