It took just one training session for Anthony Wordsworth to be convinced Aaron Ramsdale was destined to play for England.
A 20-year-old Ramsdale had just signed for AFC Wimbledon on loan in January 2019 and midfielder Wordsworth was blown away by the young goalkeeper’s ability.
“I still remember that first day,” says Wordsworth. “He made one of the best saves I’ve seen from a goalkeeper with my own eyes live to keep out a volley from Joe Pigott.
“I remember after that training session ringing my dad and saying: ‘This kid is going to play for England’. You just knew he was destined for big things.”
Wordsworth has been proved right. Fast forward three years and Ramsdale’s fine form for Arsenal has him being tipped to replace Jordan Pickford as England’s new No1 ahead of the World Cup.
Ramsdale has had a brilliant season since joining Arsenal from Sheffield United last summer for a fee that could eventually reach £30million. He has helped transform the Gunners’ defence in a team that is in the driving seat to qualify for the Champions League.
Arsenal scouted Ramsdale diligently before signing him, with Mikel Arteta speaking to Bukayo Saka about what the goalkeeper was like in the England camp.
Arteta also specifically analysed footage of how Ramsdale reacted when he conceded or made an error, with the Spaniard adamant he wanted the right character in goal.
If any of those clips happened to be of Ramsdale’s loan spell at Wimbledon during the second half of the 2018-19 season, then Arteta will have liked what he saw.
The Dons had tried to sign Ramsdale the previous year, but injury halted those plans. They returned 12 months later, with some players surprised at his arrival given the fact fellow goalkeeper Tom King was already on loan from Millwall.
It didn’t take long, however, for the squad to realise why the club had moved to bring Ramsdale in.
“We were in a relegation fight so we were more direct, but he had a wand of right foot,” says Wimbledon goalkeeping coach Ashley Bayes.
“He was an unbelievable distributor and a brave goalkeeper. I don’t mean brave in terms of diving at players’ feet, I mean it in terms of his starting positions. He was aggressive with them.”
On the pitch Ramsdale made a huge impact, so much so he made Wimbledon’s team of the decade despite only being at the club for six months. Wordsworth admits they would not have survived relegation from League One without him.
But it was also off the pitch that Ramsdale made a big impression too.
“He came into the building as a 20-year-old, but you wouldn’t have thought so,” says Bayes. “He had an old head on young shoulders. He was a leader. He ran the dressing room.
“He would just talk to everybody, from a kid walking in to the dinner lady.
“I remember when he came in he didn’t know anyone’s names. We had Fleetwood in the FA Cup and he spent the night before in his hotel room learning who everyone was by going through their photos on the club website.”
Ramsdale was very much the life and soul at Wimbledon, which is typified by footage Wordsworth has of the goalkeeper celebrating Dons staying up.
They had just beaten the drop by earning a point at Bradford and Ramsdale treated the bus to a customised rendition of Heaven Is A Place On Earth by Belinda Carlisle.
“That song he sang there, he made that up at home,” says Wordsworth, laughing.
“He changed the lyrics to get players’ names in it. When he produced that on the coach everyone was in stitches.
“When you won games, he was the one to bring the speaker on the bus and build that buzz.”
Both Bayes and Wordsworth are still in contact with Ramsdale, who comes down to Plough Lane to watch Wimbledon play when he can.
They insist the goalkeeper hasn’t changed and that certainly rings true given those at Arsenal describe a similar character to the one who made a name for himself at Wimbledon.
“After training he would just be sitting at the lunch table and he was the kind of guy people wanted to be around, he was that type of character,” recalls Wordsworth.
“I didn’t know how old he was and when I found out I was so surprised, because to me he was like an experienced pro.
“Everyone around Wimbledon thought this kid was a bit special - and you can see they were right.”
