Martin Keown says Mat Ryan is coming with the sort of experience that the Arsenal team needs after they signed the Australian on loan for the rest of the season.
The Gunners had replaced former second choice goalkeeper, Emi Martinez with Alex Runarsson, but the Iceland international has been unimpressive when he has played for the club.
He struggled in the Carabao Cup against Manchester City and has hardly inspired confidence in the other games that he has played for the club.
The Gunners have now moved to secure a proper backup to Bernd Leno with the signing of Ryan, and Keown thinks that they have made the right move.
He admitted that he wasn’t happy when Arsenal let Martinez leave, but he understood that they couldn’t keep the Argentinean happy as a second choice.
He then praised the acquisition of Ryan who has more than 50 caps for Australia and was the first choice at Brighton from when they got promoted to the Premier League.
‘Runarsson didn’t really capture the eye as expected, in the League Cup there was a few mistakes,’ Keown told talkSPORT.
‘I was disappointed to see Martinez leave in the first place when you consider he climbed a mountain to get in the first team.
‘But I imagine they couldn’t afford to keep two first-string goalkeepers financially, maybe they didn’t see that as the right way forward.
‘So this is a good adjustment, Mat Ryan coming in.
’59 caps for Australia, he’s their No.1 goalkeeper, he’s been out of the team at Brighton.
‘He’s coming with good experience and that’s what Arsenal need in the event that Leno gets injured at any point.’
Matt Ryan coming to Arsenal with the “Martin Keown seal of approval”.
We need the squad to pick-up their game…
This’s the perfect time to strike form and work yourselves back up the table guys, c’mon…we can do it!!!⚽️💪👌