Former Premier League defender Gary Neville says he is not a fan of Mikel Arteta’s decision to make Aaron Ramsdale and David Raya compete for the No.1 spot at Arsenal.
Aaron Ramsdale was Arsenal’s first-choice goalkeeper last season, but David Raya has since arrived at the club to provide the England international with competition.
Speaking on Sky Sports about the battle to be the Gunners’ No.1, Neville said: “I’m not a fan of competition for goalkeepers. I think you need a clear No.1 and then a clear No.2.”
Raya has joined Arsenal on an initial loan deal from Brentford and was the Bees’ first-choice shot-stopper.
However, as things stand, he appears to be Arsenal’s back-up keeper after Arteta gave Ramsdale the nod for his side’s 1-0 win against Crystal Palace on Monday.
Unnecessary headache
You can easily see one of Ramsdale or Raya becoming upset later down the line when they are not playing.
Both players are Premier League-level goalkeepers, so you would imagine that it is going to be hard for Arteta to convince one of the duo to stay on the bench.
Honestly, it would be a surprise if this experiment lasted more than a year. Arteta, though, clearly wanted two reliable shot-stoppers, and you suspect most managers would not turn down the opportunity to improve their squad.
A player of Raya’s quality obviously does that. But from the 27-year-old’s perspective, how much will he actually benefit himself from this move? If he ends up staying Arsenal’s No.2, then not much.
It is a long season, however. He has time to win Ramsdale’s place, which would then beg the question, what happens to him? The England international proved last term that he is way too good to be sitting on someone’s bench. It will certainly be fascinating to see how this all plays out.
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