A player linked with moves to Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa this summer believes he did have interest from clubs other than the one he eventually signed for: Sheffield United.
Both Tottenham (Daily Mail) and Villa (Sky Sports) were listed among the admirers of Aaron Ramsdale, who completed an £18.5 million transfer to Bramall Lane from Bournemouth on Wednesday.
But in an interview with Sky Sports earlier on Thursday, Ramsdale insisted that he was out of the loop about that.
“I believe there was interest from elsewhere but to be honest I was out of the loop for most of the time,” he said.
“I spoke to Eddie Howe when he left [Bournemouth] and that was probably the most contact I had with the management.
“I went on holiday, things developed and I actually found out on the plane home that the fee had been accepted, so I didn’t have many conversations with management at Bournemouth or me pushing anything, it sort of just happened.”
Being Ramsdale’s former club, Sheffield United had at least one advantage over Tottenham and Aston Villa in the apparent race for his signature.
And the goalkeeper added: “When Chris Wilder [the Sheffield United manager] and his coaching staff wanted me, that was a big thing for me and that they wanted to pay that money for me was a huge boost.
“It shows that you’re wanted and there’s no better feeling than feeling loved at a football club.”
Ramsdale is also expected to succeed Dean Henderson as Sheffield United number one and may have found regular football harder to come by at Tottenham or Aston Villa.
Tottenham added Joe Hart to a goalkeeping roster already comprising Hugo Lloris and Paulo Gazzaniga on Tuesday, while Tom Heaton, Jed Steer, Orjan Nyland and Lovre Kalinic are all currently competing to be Villa’s first-choice.
Ramsdale joined Sheffield United’s academy system in 2013 but was sold to Bournemouth five years later having played just twice for the Blades.
He established himself as Bournemouth’s number one last season and was tipped to gatecrash England’s squad for Euro 2020, before the competition was rescheduled amid the global health crisis.
Tottenham and Aston Villa fans – is not signing Ramsdale an opportunity missed?
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