Don Hutchison told Premier League Productions that Arsenal could have signed Jesse Lingard from Manchester United instead of Sheffield United’s Aaron Ramsdale.
The former Premier League midfielder claimed, given the money Arsenal have spent on Ramsdale, it could have been put to better use on Lingard.
It has been suggested by BBC Sport that Arsenal are paying an initial fee of £24 million for Ramsdale, with £6 million add-ons.
Whilst Lingard is still on Manchester United’s books this season, there are suggestions that he wants to leave Old Trafford this summer.
But given that Ramsdale is, for the time being, brought in as a back-up option, Hutchison thinks that they could have purchased Lingard for a similar amount instead.
“What they are doing Mikel Arteta is bringing the average age down, which is a good thing,” said Hutchison.
“The Ramsdale one is interesting because they lost Emiliano Martinez, who is Argentina’s number one keeper, and they replace him with someone who cost more money. Close to £30 million if he gets his appearances.
“It’s a bizarre one for me because £30 million for a back-up goalkeeper is an awful lot of money when players like Jesse Lingard at Manchester United are on sale or can be bought.”
Arsenal have already added a more attack-minded midfielder to their squad this summer by bringing back Martin Odegaard, alongside Ramsdale.
Both another creative talent and a goalkeeper was needed, so going for two midfield players ahead of a shot-stopper was a big no-no for those in the Arsenal boardroom.
Now that Mikel Artera has brought in much-needed competition for Bernd Leno, they can now perhaps focus their attention on bulking up their final third even more.
Whilst a move for someone like Lingard looks pretty unlikely, he was someone who the North London club have seemingly been looking at.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
