Journalist Kaya Kaynak believes that Mikel Arteta has badly mishandled one situation at Arsenal this season.
There has been a huge amount of debate about the Arsenal goalkeeper situation this season.
Aaron Ramsdale was the established first-choice shot-stopper at the Emirates Stadium last season, but his place in the pecking order came under threat following the summer arrival of David Raya on a season-long loan from Brentford.
Mikel Arteta started the season with Ramsdale between the sticks, but Raya did not have to wait long to get his chance. The 28-year-old was handed his debut for the Gunners in mid-September, as he started in a Premier League clash against Everton.
Since then, the Spaniard has very much been Arsenal’s No. 1. Ramsdale has only had two subsequent Premier League run-outs since Raya made his bow for the north London outfit, and both of them came against Brentford, in instances of Raya being ineligible to play against his parent club.
The England man has no real future at the Emirates Stadium, and has likely already made his final appearance for the club. Arsenal are aware that Ramsdale is all but certain to leave the club in the upcoming summer transfer window.
Meanwhile, Arsenal are set to make Raya’s switch permanent for a fee of £27 million this summer. It has long been clear that Raya is Arteta’s first-choice. However, at one stage, Arteta seemed determined not to admit to that fact.
Did Mikel Arteta make matters worse for David Raya and Aaron Ramsdale at Arsenal?
Earlier on this season, the manager suggested that he planned to rotate between the two ‘keepers, and even hinted that he would consider substituting them within matches. However, this plan never came to fruition at all. As such, Ramsdale may well be feeling rather betrayed by Arteta. Certainly, there is an argument that the boss went back on his word.
Kaya Kaynak is convinced that Arteta must surely regret ever making those comments about rotating his goalkeepers. Speaking on The Arsenal Beat podcast, the reporter said, “he’s [Ramsdale] suffered, probably, from Mikel Arteta’s handling of the situation, which I think, in retrospect, has been quite poor. I don’t think he needed to go as hard on saying ‘I’m going to rotate my goalkeepers, I’m going to sub them in between matches.’ In hindsight, that was a foolish thing to do. I think if he had his time again he wouldn’t have done that.”
Arteta’s comments certainly didn’t do Ramsdale any favours. The 25-year-old will have felt let down and misled. What’s more, the manager’s words may also have hampered Raya at times this season. The lack of clarity will have made his place in the pecking order feel less secure, which may well have contributed for some of his nervy early performances.
On top of that, Arteta added fuel to the fire of the debate raging around the Arsenal shot-stoppers. At times this season, the Arsenal fans have been upset with Arteta’s decision to back Raya over Ramsdale.
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