It’s that time of the season again: Arsenal No.1, David Raya, is ineligible to face Brentford this weekend. Relinquish him of FPL duties; fire up the Gunner Goalies Discourse Machine, Gromit. Break glass for Rambo.
Barring injury, a rush of blood to deny a clear goalscoring opportunity, or Mikel Arteta resuscitating Stuart Pearce’s galaxy-brain tactics, this weekend will be Aaron Ramsdale’s 11th game of the season… and likely his very last in three years at Arsenal. Even adjusted for COVID-time, that’s still not even halfway into testimonial territory – but it’s an era of sorts by recent standards. Arsenal have signed a new keeper every season but one since Arsene Wenger left, after all.
As football’s most reactionary fanbase, the Goonersphere is illustrious for its inaccuracy – but even by its own lofty standards, man, oh man, did they get it wrong on Ramsdale. Cold-blooded vitriol inexplicably greeted the signing of the 23-year-old, as keyboard warriors assembled to stop his pen from reaching any dotted line. Ultimately, Ramsdale has represented them more honestly than almost anyone.
I suspect I cheesed off Andy “Andrew” Cole on my first FourFourTwo assignment and I still treasure Lee Trundle as a phone contact – so it’s not often I namedrop. But two years ago now, as the Gunners were gearing up under Arteta, I was granted an audience with Aaron for our ‘The New Arsenal’ issue.
I’ve met enough media-trained deer in headlights to recognise which questions illicit “I just want to impress the boss” responses by now and yes, speaking to footballers is as much of a minefield as you’d imagine: trying to coax anything resembling an anecdote from stony-faced superstars, as their eyes dart between you and a club rep/agent, furiously head-shaking, with the ‘careful, now’ anguish of an Englishman coaching buildup.
Yet somehow, Ramsdale and I got onto the conversation of whether Benjamin White wanted to “punch him in the face”. I asked him who’d win in a fight.
“Me,” the keeper responded without so much as blinking. “Without a shadow of a doubt. I’m not a fighter but Ben comes from mean Bournemouth and I come from Stoke-on-Trent, so I think I’d have a streetwise knowledge that he wouldn’t.” I told him that I suspected the Goliath Gabriel could have them both on toast. He nodded, solemnly. “Oh, he’d take us both at once,” he agreed.
There’s always been an earthy charm to Ramsdale; a disarming frankness to wear his heart on those short sleeves. Ask him anything and he will respond with utmost honesty. It didn’t take long for Arsenal fans to take to him.
He has all the traits that card-carrying Gooners hold dear. Passion in spades; an uncanny ability to evoke Gordon Banks on a whim. He’s box office in big games. He’s vaguely annoying if you don’t support his team (no, no, Arsenal fans like that), he seemingly grows taller the more he’s doubted, and he has an unquantifiable potential – even his detractors will admit that several elite keepers have not been as good as him at his age.
Yet more than that, he’s human. He’s warm. He has labrador energy: rather than telling FFT in 2022 that he was targeting trophies, he aimed a little lower and simply told us he wanted a chant. He goes to games of former clubs at weekends when he’s not working. He takes the piss out of team-mates’ hair transplants. While Bukayo Saka is a straight-A student and Martin Odegaard is technically a nepo baby, Ramsdale is a rougher diamond; knowingly flawed – probably your top pick for a night out.
I genuinely wonder if this is why there was such uproar when Arteta announced his intention for David Raya to succeed the throne. The personality is slowly being wallpapered over at London Colney, as Kieran Tierney packs his Tesco bag for a likely summer exit, with Rob Holding – who was once visibly chuffed with getting to share his take on Kanye West’s post-808s and Heartbreak trajectory with Arsenal’s media team – already gone. David Raya is really good. But is he fun?
For a little while at least, it was a very specific kind of fun to be an Arsenal fan: the kind of fun where you’re not eighth anymore but your form isn’t quite so important that every away day fills you with dread. Arsenal players were blokeish and perhaps the football felt that extra bit more fun because this team were so obviously not superhuman. The “Just enjoy your football” fun of when Ramsdale first joined, wound up Richarlison and earned glowing praise from Peter Schmeichel, hilariously, in a game Kasper was also playing in.
It would have been nice if Rambo had stayed for the rise, which Gooners presume will yield gold in time (boundlessly hopeful). But for those three short years that Ramsdale gave us, for the masterclass at Anfield and for screaming in Bruno Fernandes’ face after he missed a penalty, he will be thanked and he will be missed. He served honestly and that’s all you can ask.
More Arsenal stories
Arsenal handed Bukayo Saka fitness boost ahead of Brentford clash
Arsenal risk losing Mikel Arteta, with Spaniard contacted over top European job: report
Wolves winger Pedro Neto being chased by Arsenal and Liverpool: report
