Mikel Arteta has refused to commit to bringing Bernd Leno back as Arsenal’s number one after Aaron Ramsdale marked his first Premier League start for the Gunners with a clean sheet.
The Gunners kept faith with the German over the last few years as he struggled for consistency.
They even sold off the more impressive Emiliano Martinez last summer to stick with him, but he couldn’t cut out the mistakes from his game.
The former Bayer Leverkusen man is now set to become the second choice at Arsenal, perhaps until he leaves the club.
Arteta decides who is in goal for every match, but it’s hard to change something that works and replacing Ramsdale, who has kept two clean sheets in consecutive games for Arsenal with Leno, doesn’t appear sensible.
When asked about the situation, Arteta refused to pick who his number one would be and says he will judge the goalies daily.
Arteta said via Sun Sports: “Obviously it wasn’t pleasant for Bernd to be told that he wasn’t playing but we needed to change something and Aaron has come here to try to make us better.
“We needed a result against Norwich, I decided to play Aaron and that’s it.
“It’s not true that Bernd reacted badly. He can be frustrated but he was a top professional with his team-mates and in training.
“It’s the same in every position. We want players to come in and make each other better.
“We are competing against opponents, not against each other. We are just looking to bring in players who raise the level of the player in every position.
“What I have told the goalkeepers for the last two years is that we don’t want to give anyone assurances that they will play in certain games or competitions.
“We went to empower and ask them to train and behave in the best possible way. So It wouldn’t make sense with those demands to give someone a guarantee of playing.
“In football you are judged on a daily basis. What you did three months ago doesn’t count. It’s what you’re going to do today and tomorrow.
“So I don’t know where these reports about the derby are coming from, but they are certainly ahead of me!
“I am the one who picks the team and I haven’t even made a decision for Saturday’s game against Burnley, so you can imagine the team for the North London derby has not been chosen.”
