Is Ramsdale Worth the Hassle?
Ramsdale is a serious English talent worth throwing a punt on, but not at the rumored price of close to 30M when Onana exists, and when we have not yet secured our major signings.
If we do end up securing other major players, then I won’t mind Ramsdale. But if we don’t, then Edu gets a black mark for signing off on an expensive backup.
If we have that much money to spend on a homegrown goalkeeper, then we should go for Ilian Meslier. He is younger, better, next in line to replace Hugo Lloris for France and a perfect fit for Arteta’s needs.
Otherwise signing an expensive young backup is what you only do when your team is complete and ageing.
Ramsdale is a good talent — that is not in doubt. But he’s not good enough to displace Leno right now. As a result, you don’t spend that much on him. It’s not a question of whether Ramsdale is a good talent or not, it’s a question of resources allocation. Priorities, Edu.
I understand that since there’s no offer for Leno, we need a decent backup. People saying that we should get Sam Johnstone don’t realize that Johnstone is a 28-year-old starter at his club and won’t want a backup role. But is Ramsdale for the reported 30 million the best we can do, even if we want an homegrown keeper?
If Ramsdale’s signing somehow does not financially limit us, then it is OK with me. Yes, bring him on board.
Failed to include the circumstances surrounding Onana’s status and why he’s so cheap. I don’t see teams lining up to sign him either, but as usual it always has to be Arsenal.
Mentions Meslier who is younger and better, who plays in the EPL too, and you think we’ll get him for 30M
What EPL team will let go of their first team GK for cheap? so you have an issue with Ramsdale’s fee for a backup GK, but somehow think Meslier will be more cheaper to be our backup GK?
Big up to you on Martinez and our GK situation.
People like to join bad wagon and when the team isn’t performing they divert their energy to anything the club does.
How anyone think we haven’t improved the squad is beyond reasoning. Last season we started with only Ozil as a recognised attacking midfielder and we all saw the results by Christmas, however we brought in Ode and with ESR and others we overturned it , though late we did well, if we could improve our team in the second half of the season (which we have done), we can hope for at least top 6
Fair enough bro, I must commend your strong stand regarding your views and thoughts. Unfortunately, others will choose to see whatever they want to and believe whatever they want to.
Everyone likes to pretend that Arsenal wanted to lose Martinez and hounded him out. When the truth will forever remain he had a new long contract offer, had the manager’s assurance he’ll be the starting goalkeeper for the season, and he turned t all down just because he was scared of the competition he’d face from Leno.
I never thought of it the way you mentioned today, that he pulled a RVP on us and turned us down after sticking with him for ten years.
Folks don’t have an issue with it because they choose to ignore the fact that he walked away on his terms and it wasn’t the club who gave him away.
That being said, I already wished him luck last season and I’m glad he’s doing fine.
I hope to see everyone doing fine, I have no wish to see anybody fail in any aspect of their life, particularly when it comes to career.
So I have no issues with Ramsdale signing, he’s young and there’s lot to lok forwad to. I hope to see him succeed here for many more years, I don’t get the whining about a boyhood fan havng the chance to fight and prove himself to the club he loves.
Onana is an outstanding goalkeeper who is also good with the ball at his feet and was valued at £35 million 18 months ago. The circumstances you refer to involved Onana being banned from playing for 12 months by UEFA after testing positive for Furosemide, which was reduced on appeal after it was accepted that the offence was committed as result of an error. He can start playing in November and training in September. He’s at least as good as Edouard Mendy and for £8 million I think he would be worth a put. I suspect clubs are waiting until January to get him signing a pre-contract as his current contract expires next Summer. Maybe that’s Arsenal’s plan?
Had we not been signing another keeper, we would be waiting until November, by which time our season might be in ruins. Also he’s being advised to give Arsenal the steer.
No, but it makes sense if we think about his attributes:
– Homegrown
– 23 years old
– Was included in England’s Euro squad
– Bournemouth’s Player of the Year in 2020 and Sheffield’s Player of the Year in 2021
Yep. Essential details.
You missed out been relegated 3 times at the age of 22 .
Just him or the horrible teams he played for?
Wasn’t Buendia and Aarons relegated a few seasons
back?
This point is utterly pointless.
You can and have done better
Cheers ACE ,what did I score
C- ?or less ,I’ll promise to do better on my next post 👍
You can only blame him for making the wrong choices ie. the clubs he chose to play for. Hopefully he’s made the right choice now.
Gai
Yes those details are salient ones👌 I agree with you. And he can’t be in the National team if he doesn’t have anything to offer. He can grow like Martinez to become top top in few years.
I’m already reading Ramsdale transfer being regarding as overpriced…etc.
Again its opinions but in fact, his price is a good price.
Let me example
Martinez was sold for £25m aged 28yrs old. We sign a kid for the same price + bonuses. Bournemouth and Sheff U were in on a secret, that this kid is good, so much so Bournemouth knew he would go on to better things and put in a clause of 15% resell on more than 19m (they sold to SU for 18.5m). This is why 40m was touted. But in the end, arsenal sorted out the difference between Bournemouth and Sheff U of 5m (Bournemouth getting 1.5m) and added 6m for additional bonus payments.
So 11m is the overpriced arsenal had to pay and the 19m is his general stock value. So potentially 30m I am hearing is terrible business from some ‘fans’.
Yet there is no perspective in this view! He has played 2 full seasons in the EPL winning player of the season last year. This is more than Chelsea’s 2nd who cost them 80m and has far less EPL experience then Ramsdale
No, Martinez was sold for 20 and not 25
1. Martinez was sold for £20m to become a starter. We’re buying a backup for £30m
2. Kepa was signed a s a starter and not a backup
3. Player of the season in a very poor team means nothing. Chambers was the same at Fulham. Does that make him a very good defender?
I want Ramsdale as a backup. He’s a vary good one. But £30m when there are many other more pressing needs which will greatly impact our season is poor business. Moreover, I think Arsenal should still go out for Onana. Barcelona got Suarez even when he had a lenghty ban and reaped full rewards later on
Fair point on kepa but he is no.2 as it stands and I think Ramsdale will become arsenal 1 by the end of the season because Leno has just been so poor when it comes to his distribution. So maybe this is not seen as a no.2 purchase either
Thou Ramsdale I cant comment on his distribution but his shot stopping is very good.
I think Martinez all in was sold for 25m but maybe i am mistaken, the point is we needed someone who will become no.1 by fighting for it. Martinez didn’t want to fight to become no.1. So here we have a young keeper in truth replacing a 28yr old youth player who made us 20something million
Personally I think it is pressing matter because we have 1 senior keeper and if he got injured/suspended we will be moaning at the lack of a no.2
I was also keen on Onana. Fits the modern type of keeper we need. But maybe Arsenal want a british core at the club again.
It’s been smart, that this generation of English internationals are being snapped up by arsenal. City have gone for one. United got mcguire and shaw from before…
Declan Rice will be the next big purchase for someone after Kane!
Arsenal could have bought Freddie Woodman and Andre Onana together for less than the cost of Ramsdale. Whether he’s come in as number two or prospective number 1 he appears overpriced, even in the current market. He might be another Martinez who suddenly comes good despite his prior average performances.
Anyone who saw Freddie Woodman against West Ham will appreciate why I believe he will establish himself as the Newcastle no 1. If we wanted Woodman, he should have been included in the Willock deal.
Good point Biscuitbum, about Woodman being part of Willock deal.
Sorry just to iterate the Kepa point. Ramsdale will start as no.2 but we know the aim is to be no.1.
The point remains that ramsdale has more EPL experienced matches then Kepa and cost 50m less and both will start the season for their club as no.2
There isn’t any more pressing point than to have a competent back up keeper…. with a view to challenging for No.1 spot.
Argue over the reported fee, but I would say that MA/EDU have addressed another weak link in the squad.
Agreed.
How many players can you get with Ramsadale experience, both in the EPL and for England. I would go as far as saying he must be thinking he can even take Pickfords spot.
If JustArsenal had any sense about themsleves, there should be an article profiling the player (the making of Ramsdale) then debating if we have spent too much.
We cry when we dont spend and cry when we do.
Our objective as arsenal fans has somewhere along the line gone astray
so you have complete faith in Leno?
Just an observation but Arsenal could have got Sam Johnstone and Andre Onana for a combined fee less than than £24 million. Ramsdale will become the 6th most expensive premier league goalkeeper and he’s being bought as a backup. I don’t understand the rationale behind buying him but…
It’s 24 million upfront with 6 million in bonuses. It is not a terrible fee but we need to get over the Martinez regret (I wanted him to be number 1). It will only be 30 million if he does everything we want him to do. I hope it does work out (and we need to get a better goalkeeping coach ASAP)!
And the bonus payments, as I understand it, are only paid out if he becomes first choice so slightly misleading headline – yes 24m is a lot to pay for a back up but 30m not so much for a number one.
I’m not going to pretend to have much of a clue about Ramsdale. For some reason didnt watch a lot of Sheffield United last year 🤔
Some reports describe him as a great shot stopper but prone to gaffs and not great with his feet. Sounds eerily familiar to scouting reports on Leno when he came
Other reports say he’s got bags of room to grow and is pretty good distributing the ball. So maybe not ready from the get go to start for Arsenal but a good back up who can grow into a solid number one.
Time will tell.
Martinez betrayed us arsenal after 10yrs but no one seems to care RVP did same but we crucified him. Talk about double stand
Are you really serious? How did Martinez betray us? If anything we are the ones who betrayed him!
How did we betray a play we wanted to be our number 1, we offered him contract renewal with 90% assurance that he is starting in goal first game of the season.
He himself said it .
So how did we betray him.
Do you remember those time his errors cost us goals in camp, despite we supported and believe in him, but when he became a good gk how did he repay us?
I remember him letting in 5 at the Madejski!!
Exactly sue, most fans forget he spent 10yrs on the bench behind fabiaski , scszney etc.
People get manipulated by media, some of those media has an agenda against either the club or the manager and will not speak the truth but only pick the ones that suit their agenda
Only a fan who actually remembers his ten years, will understand the reported £25,000,000 was a good deal.
If Chelsea, Man City, Man U or Liverpool had been the one signing him, we would say that Arsenal is not serious but if it’s Arsenal spending such money, We’ll say the business does not make sense. What exactly do we want the administrators to do? Let’s give them a break joor.
You’re talking rubbish. No club in history has ever deliberately spent £30m on a backup goalkeeper. It’s worse knowing that Arsenal have many other more pressing needs yet such money is spent on a goalkeeper who will play maybe 6 or 7 matches this season
How much the chelshit get Mendy, is he first or back up? If he’s first, how much is just back up? We arsenal fabs are naturally frustrated
Chelsea got Mendy for £22m as a starter to replace Kepa, and not as a backup. Go and do your research before posting
You honestly think Arsenal would spend close to £30M
on an England international to be the future back up
goalie? Leno, even when in good form hasn’t
necessarily won over the fan base and has repeatedly
stated that he would be open to new challenges
outside of North London.
IMHO it is only a matter of time before Ramsdale takes
over between the posts and Leno is on his merry way
back to Germany.
SMMFH
I do think we would waste £30 on a dubious number 2. We’re paying Runnarsson £40,000 per week to do….I’m not certain what he does.. He was purchased as a promising goalkeeper who was being groomed to be a number 1 so I wouldn’t put anything past us given our outstanding recent goalkeeping recruitment.
The perpetual moaning greeting Arsenal’s transfer business – from the media and from a section of the fan-base – is wearisome. Personally I think the club have done well, and I look forward to the new players integrating with the existing players.
I have to agree and I am happy that this relentless negativity is being challenged as it should.
It has not all been perfect but it is clear that the recruitment team are working to address some of the deficiencies in the squad.
We bought him to be our number 1 next year when we sell Leno.
Thats not bad value for a good GK for next 5 years.
I actually think that he will be great
Ridiculous price.
And he is a poor keeper.
If he’s going to be our future number 1 God help us 🙏.
Have any of you actually watched him ?
He’s a flapper . Terrible at crosses.
And pathetic with ball at feet.
such a vitally important point Brad that some on here seem to be ignoring…why the f would you ever sign any Keeper, backup or otherwise, who didn’t exhibit the very attributes that you desperately crave, tactically-speaking, especially after our obvious struggles with the ill-suited Leno…people seem to just want to gloss over that fact simply because it doesn’t fit their particular narrative…mindboggling
With a tight budget constraint it’s all about opportunity cost and with more important weaknesses to urgently tackle it’s just another indication of the shambolic state of Arsenal management
big ups for the whole “opportunity cost” gig RW1…I raised this many times before but it usually falls on deaf ears…this should have been a window defined by the quantity of outgoing players and the quality of incoming players, on a prioritized positional basis
Ryan the goalkeeper we loaned last season said in one of his interviews that the reason he didn’t sign permanently for Arsenal is because they made it clear they want an homegrown keeper, and between Sam Johnstone and him it’s easy to see who we will get base on age.
Onana will not play till March and yet we want him so the team will be without a backup keeper for up to six month, Arsenal fans una try wella with absolutely complaining for everything
Arteta’s signings
Defensive minded players:
1 Cedric(average)
2 Mari(average)
3 White(overpriced)
4 Tavares
5 Gabriel
6 Lokonga
7 Party
8 Ramsdale (incoming)(average and overpriced)
Attack minded players:
1 Willian (average and overpriced)
2 Odegaard(incoming)
Am I the only one seeing a pattern here? Why all these defensive players? £30m for a backup goalkeeper when we need outfield players? I’ll have even preferred the money to be added to the Odegaard’s £30m to make £60m for Maddison.
I think you forget how bad, REALLY BAD, our defence was, when Arteta took over. Everybody were talking about new players were needed in our defence
White may have been overpriced, but I notice you didn’t call him average. Grealish was also probably overpriced. I disagree with you on Willian, since calling him average greatly overstates his performances for us. Every time I saw him play it made my blood boil at the utter waste of money.
For me, this is a good buy.
I think the people in charge are bringing in Ramsdale not just as a number two, but as a future number one.
Leno has two more years on his contract. If Ramsdale can take his chances and prove worthy of the number one spot, then Leno could be offloaded for a decent price next season.
On the other hand, the added competition could also push Leno to fight for a contract extension, or even try to increase interest from other clubs, if he desires to leave at the end of the season.
If Leno shows he’s better, and is awarded with a contract extension, this would only push Ramsdale to work harder to be #1, and considering his age, still has a long career ahead of him, probably wouldn’t mind being back up for 2-3 years.
So you now believe Madison worth £60mil
I’ve never argued with the price. Odegaard is a good buy. But I’ll have preferred him to Odegaard
For Arsenal transfers are the art of the possible.
30M for a “back up “keeper is not quite accurate,he might start as number 2 but it is obvious that the plan is for him to become our number 1 next season and who knows even before the end of this season and sell Leno .
The kid is still 23yo with lots of experience and room for improvement
True.
Right now I couldn’t care much less how much Ramsdale costs, or how good he is or isn’t.
Why ?
“Aaron Ramsdale forced to limit comments on social media amid abuse from angry Arsenal fans” ;
” Burn In Hell You XXXXXXX. Stay Far Away From Arsenal”.
“We Don’t Want You At Arsenal. Trust Me You’ll Be Getting Abuse Everyday”.
“Blonde Inbred”
Just 3 of many such comments left on Ramsdale’s Instagram account.
Arsenal fans or not – who knows.
Irrelevant.
NOT IN MY NAME AS A LIFE LONG SUPPORTER OF ARSENAL FOOTBALL CLUB.
These anonymous keyboard jockeys are vile sickening excuses for human beings.
Shameful and thoroughly disgusting.
If you have reservations, or don’t rate the player, say your piece in plain acceptable language ………. but this !!
A social (media) disease !
Personally I’d like to WELCOME Aaron Ramsdale to Arsenal Football Club, and wish him all the very best.
I agree this is disgusting shameful behaviour but sadly not surprising Joe Willock recently said that he thought of quitting social media for receiving racist vile abuse after his transfer was announced and as you right said like it or not he is coming to Arsenal and we should not only welcome him but support him!
A sad but even more sadly a common occurence AJ. Social media should compulsorily use language filters, or at the very least detect vile language and hide it like it does with sensitive pics. I know pics and videos are age restricted, but please make language age restricted too. Atleast players like Xhaka, Willock and Ramsdale would not suffer that treatment. I also remember Runnarson was treated so bad after the City game he either disabled or deleted his account. Difficult to separate emotions from objectivity I agree,but not difficult to behave like a civilised human being is it?
I dont support Ramsdale coming in, but like you said I will voice my displeasure at his signing in normal words or at worst say he is an error prone, long ball bloke. If I have something beyond that I will speak it privately or among friends in ‘closed’ circles, not go to a player’s account and give him grief. That is too sad and the work of some people who dont have anything to do..
Well said
Agree 100%
Empty vessels and all that!
maybe you should have wrote this in reverse, with the welcome to Arsenal first…I likewise don’t see this as a good fit tactically or from a budgetary standpoint, but certainly wouldn’t “personalize” my displeasure in such a fashion
The situation is becoming increasingly toxic AJ. I actually feel sorry for any of them joining The Arsenal right now – if for no other reason that their confidence will be shot before they kick a ball – or if it goes Pete Tong at the weekend
One year ago most posters were waxing lyrical about Auba signing his mega deal and now none of the signings are any good.
Up we go, keep strengthening the defence with a new gk
Hopefully one day we can achieve 0 goal conceded
Who said he is going to be used as a backup keeper?? Clearly MA wants another keeper who can play out from the back more comfortable than Leno right now. And MA apparently thinks Ramsdale is the right answer. I wouldn’t be surprised if Ramsdale ends up as our number one at the end of this month.
He’s not coming as a backup.
I think we have to give Arteta the benefit of the doubt here. There is no doubt that Ramsdale is a great shot stopper. Can he dominate his penalty area and distribute? The jury is out. He is young and if the gamble pays off we have a goalkeeper for 10 years. There are many older second choice goalkeepers around, but with Leno falling apart, I understand the need to get a potential No 1. Hopefully the gamble pays off.
Disgusting abuse on social media😡.
We dont need these kind of “fans” and I hope the fans in the stadium give him the support he will need because this abuse is simply not on .
Agree. Disgusting abuse. F… stupid “fans”. It’s destroying the players selfconfidence. We have spent a lot of money on him and then “fans” are in this way spoiling his chances to get immidiate succes. Foolish “fans”. Good grief.
Daft title!!
A back up keeper?!?!
Yes its a lot of money but he’s done incredibly well at a struggling pl side I homegrown and young so the price is inflated somewhat.
Based on some of the errors Leno had been making and his lack of concentration and focus at times who’s to say AR won’t be our number 1 soon?
I hear he’s being viciously abused online by Arsenal fans already, there really are some brainless, vile morons in the world.
Are they Arsenal fans though or other teams fans ,that the thing with social media they don’t know who they are dealing with .
I don’t think anyone would be paying that much for a back-up keeper. You could see, against Brentford, that Arteta was annoyed with Leno, and not for the first time. I would bet that at some point Ramsdale will take over the top spot, especially if Leno makes a few howlers.
NO!
Better business Joe Hart (English home grown keeper) went to Glasgow Celtic for £1 million as backup and Onana £4 million as one for the future (6 months time); ~£5 million job done.