Simon Jordan believes that Aaron Ramsdale is reaching the stage where he may need to leave Arsenal if he hopes to progress his career, but hit out at the suggestion that Mikel Arteta is disrespecting the goalkeeper.
Jordan was speaking on talkSPORT after Arteta’s latest press conference, in which he suggested that Ramsdale needs to work harder if he hopes to regain his place in the Arsenal team (via Football London).
Few Arsenal fans would have predicted ahead of the summer that there was any chance of Aaron Ramsdale falling down the pecking order this season. The 25-year-old has been outstanding throughout his time at the Emirates; silencing a lot of doubters along the way.
However, Mikel Arteta decided that he needed more from his goalkeepers in the summer. And thus, David Raya arrived on loan.
The Spaniard has kept Ramsdale out of the team for several weeks now. And Arteta has now challenged Ramsdale to prove why he deserves to regain his place.
Simon Jordan slams suggestion Mikel Arteta has disrespected Aaron Ramsdale
Simon Jordan however, believes that Ramsdale is now in a position where he has to consider his future with Arsenal. But he did hit out at a listener’s suggestion that Arteta had acted unfairly by dropping him.
“I think the situation with the goalkeeper’s very Pep Guardiola-ish in terms of it feels like it’s out the Pep Guardiola playbook in terms of there’s no mucking about here with Arteta. Last year, there wasn’t much broken about the Arsenal side. The only thing that looked at certain times was defensively, they looked a bit short when it came to games when their top centre-halves were out. And they looked a bit short offensively, because I don’t think Nketiah’s good enough to give them what they need as an alternate striker,” he told talkSPORT.
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“But now, he’s moved on past that and gone: ‘well, actually, no, I’m not just going to look at those areas. The goalkeeper that’s really done nothing wrong I can enhance’. And that’s very, very definite and brutal football management.
“I think this smells and feels like Ramsdale needs to go somewhere else if he’s going to progress in his career.
“You can’t expect a guy who has aspirations to play for the national side; that’s been commended and applauded for his performances last year, to take it.
“Hold on, this disrespect because someone has a different view on you is a ridiculous by-product of society,” he added when a listener said Arteta had disrespected Ramsdale.
Arsenal goalkeeper may have questions after signing new contract in May
Where you can definitely have some sympathy for Ramsdale is that he signed a new contract earlier this year. Arsenal announced the deal in May just before their final couple of fixtures of the season.
Little could have changed in those games against Nottingham Forest and Wolves. So Arteta potentially already had in his mind the idea of bringing in another number one goalkeeper.
Perhaps football clubs do not work this way. But Ramsdale may have expected some assurances over his role from Arteta before signing the new contract.
And if Arteta was already contemplating bringing another goalkeeper in, then the decent thing may have perhaps been to inform Ramsdale before he signed a new contract.