Roy Keane comments on £30m Arsenal decision after ‘upset’ reaction

Follow us on Google Discover

Roy Keane has moved to defender Mikel Arteta’s decision to bring goalkeeper David Raya to Arsenal this summer.

Arsenal bringing in David Raya as top competition for Aaron Ramsdale has been defended by pundit Roy Keane.

United legend Keane was speaking on Sky Sports ahead of his former club taking on Arsenal this afternoon.

The subject of Arsenal’s goalkeeping recruitment came up having made a big change this summer.

The Gunners sold Matt Turner to Nottingham Forest before striking a £3million loan deal to sign Raya from Brentford.

Arsenal have the option to turn the move permanent next summer with a £27million option as part of the deal.

Spending a £30million package on Raya has been seen as bold given that Arsenal already had a settled number one in Aaron Ramsdale.

Keane is a fan of the move though, believing that Arsenal should be striving for top competition throughout their squad.

Keane added that he thinks some of the ‘upset’ reactions from pundits is ‘strange’, believing that competition brings the best out of everybody.

“I find it strange with goalkeepers, and it seems to be a lot of ex-goalkeepers, particularly in the media, saying ‘oh it’s not right, you’re undermining the goalkeeper’ – you need competition at your club,” said Keane. “If every player had that mindset of ‘oh if somebody comes in, he’s going to challenge me’… that’s what you want at your club! So these goalkeepers who are upset about another good goalkeeper coming to your club, what are they talking about?!” he added.

David Raya will really push Aaron Ramsdale

We can only assume that Keane was heavily referring to Ben Foster here.

The former Manchester United goalkeeper suggested in the week that Arsenal’s move to sign Raya was ‘pathetic’.

Foster’s stance is that this will only serve to unnerve Ramsdale and make him feel that every mistake will push Raya closer to taking his spot.

Ultimately though, Arsenal need excellence across the pitch in order to truly challenge Manchester City for the Premier League title.

Signing Raya – a goalkeeper who is exceptional with the ball at his feet – will hopefully push Ramsdale on to become even better and improve Arsenal as a team.

If Ramsdale doesn’t kick on then Arsenal do have a replacement right there, with Mikel Arteta ready to be ruthless in pursuit of success.