Ramdale’s a saint, Vieira leaves, and then what?!

Morning all.

The departures continue with news broken last night that Southampton and Arsenal have found an agreement over the permanent transfer of Aaron Ramsdale. The deal is worth £25m, including add-ons, with the up-front part of the payment just shy of £20m.

It’s quite a bit short of what Arsenal were seeking earlier in the transfer window, but the closer you get to the deadline, the more you need to compromise. It’s still a pretty decent fee for a player whose stock has fallen in the last 12 months. Go back to last May, when Arsenal handed Ramsdale a new contract, and Mikel Arteta said:

We’re all so happy that Aaron has signed a new contract. The way Aaron has developed over the past two years has been exceptional, with his performances, contribution and overall adaptation to the club. We’re all looking forward to enjoying many more years of Aaron the player and the person at the football club.

A few months later and we signed David Raya from Brentford. Since then the writing has been on the wall for Aaron. Perhaps it was faint at first, but as time went by and Raya was established as the first choice, it became very clear that to play regularly, he would need to leave. He’s far too good to play second-fiddle, even at a club like Arsenal, but the question was always about where he would end up.

There was a link to Ajax, talk of Wolves, but in the end it’ll be a return to the south-coast and a big challenge to help Southampton stave off relegation after their return to the Premier League. It’s the kind of environment that might suit him, because I suspect – based on the small sample size we have so far this season – he’s going to be a busy boy. In their last game, for example, Nottingham Forest had 23 shots, and while their two defeats have been by narrow margins, they have 0 points. Early days, of course, but it’ll be a long, gruelling season for the Saints.

I really hope it goes well for him. Like most players, he had his flaws, but as a character he was exactly what Arsenal needed at the time we brought him in. He rose above the skepticism that surrounded the fee we paid for him, and connected with both the club and the fans in a really meaningful way. Football, however, can be a ruthless industry, and what happened with Ramsdale is a perfect example of that. I don’t think you can say it was the wrong move to bring Raya in, not least because of the big contributions he’s made to our points total already this season, but I don’t know if it was handled as well as it could have been at the time.

Mikel Arteta rarely makes a public misstep, he chooses his words carefully and with consideration, but in this case I think what he said about subbing goalkeepers and all of that, contributed to the Raya/Ramsdale conversation in a negative way. The ripples of that footballing decision lasted far longer than they should have because of the way the manager spoke publicly.

We have clarity about our number 1 now, no question, and as I said above, I wish Aaron Ramsdale every success with Southampton for 36 games per season (as long as they’re in the Premier League). He’s got lost time to make up for, and I’m sure he’s dying to play regularly again, so fingers crossed it’s a move that works out.

So, as we get set to bank the Ramsdale fee and the Nketiah fee, on top of what we’ve already generated from the sale of Emile Smith Rowe, many will wonder about an attacking addition to the squad. To be very clear, that is something I absolutely want to see, but my suspicion is a good chunk of that money will go on at least one more goalkeeper. We have a number 1, but basically no depth in the goalkeeping position. How much will it cost to bring in Joan Garcia from Espanyol? His release clause is €20m+, which is a lot, and I do have some concerns about how we seem to indulge the transfer whims of our goalkeeping coach Inaki Cana, despite a track record of signings that doesn’t always generate a lot of faith.

Yesterday, James reported in The Athletic (£) that we’re also tracking Wigan keeper Sam Tickle. Again, that probably won’t be cheap, but let’s see how it plays out. Fabio Vieira’s loan to Porto was officially confirmed yesterday, so perhaps you can look at that as two midfielders out (Smith Rowe, Vieira), and two midfielders in (Merino and Nwaneri – whose promotion we should get behind for obvious reasons, and a pathway has to be made for that).

Nketiah’s imminent departure leaves us one light in the forward department though, and if the feeling last season was that we needed a bit extra for some of the biggest games of the season, it doesn’t leave us a lot of time to find that before tomorrow night’s deadline. At this point, with the clock ticking and no substantive reports of interest in anyone specific, I’m not exactly going to bet the house on us making that signing, but things can happen quickly towards the end of the window.

We’ll bring you any stories on Arseblog News, and we’ll have an Arsecast a little later on today to assess the scenario as we head into the final day of this summer’s transfer madness.

For now, take it easy.

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