Aaron Ramsdale joined Arsenal in the summer after being relegated for the second time from the Premier League with Sheffield United.
The England goalie joined the Gunners following a series of errors from their former number one, Bernd Leno.
The German had been the club’s first choice for a long time, but he needed to perform better to keep his role in the team.
He didn’t make those necessary changes, and it made it easy for the outstanding Ramsdale to become the club’s number one.
The former Bournemouth goalie has now revealed that Mikel Arteta had predicted it might take as much as six months or a year before he became Arsenal’s first choice.
He tells The Peter Crouch Podcast as quoted by Mirror Football: “The manager was upfront with me and said ‘it might take you a year, it might take you six months but we don’t see you as a number two, it just depends on how the teams doing’.
“I think thankfully for me we were in a tough moment at the start of the season and I got thrown in and I managed to just play with some of my confidence and yeah, stayed in the team. I think it always helps when, obviously, Bernd (Leno) is a top keeper and a professional, it’s so much easier to stay switched on than someone that sort of just tosses off.”
Just Arsenal Opinion
Everyone gets their chance to shine in life. You just have to be prepared to take it when it comes.
Ramsdale did just that, and as they say, the rest is history. He has continued to improve and we would certainly have him in goal for a long time.