Pivote

‘I think John Lukic is one of the best goalkeepers in the country. I just think David Seaman is the best goalkeeper in the country.’ These were the semi-apologetic words of George Graham in 1990 when he baffled Arsenal fans by replacing the popular and super competent John Lukic with the British record (for a goalkeeper) £1.3m signing of David Seaman.

Graham had tried to make the signing happen a year earlier straight after the Gunners had won the league in 1989 but the deal to bring Seaman in from QPR involved Lukic going in the other direction on loan, which he didn’t want to do.

As Arsenal fans got wind of Graham wanting to change his league winning goalkeeper for the QPR alternative, some Arsenal fans began to sing ‘we all agree, Lukic is better than Seaman,’ at games in support of Lukic.

Seaman was young in goalkeeping terms, at 27, but had played in the top-flight for Birmingham and QPR without too much commendation from fans of other clubs. Graham saw something the fans didn’t, the player was signed, Lukic returned to Leeds (ironically, he would return as the back-up goalkeeper to Seaman six years later) and Arsenal fans furrowed their brows.

I have very often compared Mikel Arteta’s reign to the first half of the Graham era, a former player coming back to ‘clean house’ by chinning big players and big egos and replacing them with a mixture of hungry, young talent and unfancied players like Ben White and Gabriel Magalhães. Aaron Ramsdale fit this mould too. His signing in the summer of 2021 felt incongruous to a lot of Arsenal fans.

Bernd Leno hardly felt like a problem that needed solving, even if he probably had the feel of a ‘Europa League level’ goalkeeper. Ramsdale had been relegated twice as a player and his data showed his inclination for long distribution, which seemed to run at odds with Arteta’s desire to play out from the back.

Ramsdale’s ability and proclivity to kick long, it would turn out, was a big part of the reason that Arsenal signed him. Ramsdale became very popular very quickly with Arsenal fans, mainly through his performances but also through his affable personality. He was one of the poster boys of a renewed sense of connection between fans and players.

It was clear that Arteta and Arsenal liked him too. After a couple of seasons in the team, he signed a new contract in May 2023. He was seen as part of Arsenal’s future. However, things changed later that summer when David Raya became available. Much like George Graham with David Seaman, Arteta had tried to sign Raya once before.

And much like Graham and John Lukic, Arteta clearly didn’t regard Ramsdale as a problem, per se. But it is clear now that he probably had private frustrations with some of his limitations, especially when it came to short distribution. Ramsdale could lack calmness under pressure too. His error in the early moments of the damaging 3-3 draw with Southampton in April 2023 comes to mind.

That was an isolated incident. I think his performance in the painful 2-0 defeat at Newcastle in May 2022 was probably more instructive. As Newcastle pressed with fervour, Ramsdale repeatedly surrendered possession by smashing the ball long and watching it come straight back under waves of pressure. When Arsenal were holding a 1-0 lead at Selhurst Park with 10 men last August, Ramsdale sent eight of his nine passes long and only two found an Arsenal player.

Arsenal clearly felt he had flaws but that they were workable. But when Chelsea and Spurs balked at the price Brentford had set for Raya last summer, Arteta pounced. In his mind, Raya was the finished article, so he acted ruthlessly. The signing was clearly not a planned part of Arsenal’s summer business and the structure of the deal says so.

Arsenal basically couldn’t afford Raya and comply with PSR rules, so they signed him on an initial loan deal, Brentford extended his contract by 12 months and both clubs kicked the finalities into the long grass for a year to meet regulations. Ramsdale was ruthlessly moved aside and this proved to be a litmus test for Arsenal fans.

Previously they had been used to seeing players they didn’t want or didn’t particularly like ruthlessly moved on. Ramsdale was the first of our darlings Arteta was willing to kill. Worse than that, it wasn’t even a clean kill. Ramsdale’s Arsenal career has been in palliative care for the last year as he stayed with the club- the pivot to signing Raya happened so suddenly that the club didn’t have time to accommodate Ramsdale’s departure.

While I would not compare Raya with Seaman just yet, I think it is fair to say Arsenal fans came to either support or accept the decision. The arrivals of Havertz and Raya basically turned Arsenal into a team of 11 midfielders and for all his qualities, Ramsdale doesn’t fit that mould.

Arsenal became less chaotic and bolted the back door, ably assisted by the arrival of Declan Rice. Raya’s calmness, his greater willingness to collect crosses and his ability play short and long made him a superior fit for Arteta’s vision. His signing demonstrated Arteta’s ruthlessness in a way that I think has really resonated with fans and, you can only imagine, has resonated with players too.

I have listened keenly to questions submitted for Arsecast Extra over the season and so many of them offer a flavour of ‘who is next for the chopping block?’ Nobody saw Ramsdale’s relegation coming, nobody thinks he particularly deserved it but Arteta was willing to kill one of his babies.

I am pretty sure that is a message that has had an impact on the players. Even someone like Ben White, a guy that Arteta clearly trusts and adores, must look at someone like Jurrien Timber and think ‘am I next?’ But, of course, it is slightly different with the goalkeeping position because, despite what Arteta said last summer, there is no potential for quick rotation, for your 20-30 minutes here and there.

Saliba’s arrival back into the Arsenal fold reduced Tomiyasu’s importance to the team but he remains important to the squad in a way that a back-up goalkeeper is not. It will make Ramsdale’s sale tricky too, having just signed a new deal on ‘Arsenal number 1’ money, he is financially out of reach for most clubs.

Also, you have to really need a goalkeeper to buy an England international. It’s not like defence or midfield where you can repurpose people. Ben White survived Saliba’s rise because he could play at right-back. Havertz could flit between midfield and centre-forward and Rice could swap between six and eight. A goalkeeper cannot do that.

So while it is true that the Raya for Ramsdale was an illustration of Arteta’s ruthlessness, it is also a unique situation because of the position both players play. Jesus and Zinchenko have suffered relegations of sorts from their previous status as crucial starting eleven players- but it doesn’t mean their usefulness has expired. Outfield players can find a use as ‘spare bedrooms’ but spare garages are less useful.

The signing of Raya also shows Arteta’s willingness to ‘pivot’ in the market and I think that he will illustrate that again this summer. A lot of the talk in the Arsenal based press is of Arsenal ‘levelling up’ their squad, replacing unfancied squad players with greater depth so the squad becomes more fluid.

That will be dictated by the market because the Declan Rice ceiling raiser probably isn’t out there this summer. I imagine this summer will be more akin to January 2023 when Jorginho (second choice after Caicedo), Trossard (second choice after Mudryk) and Kiwior (a depth signing) arrived. Arsenal have been good at responding to the vagaries of the market, just as Arteta has been willing to pivot tactically on the pitch.

Arteta’s ruthlessness should not be in doubt; but Ramsdale has been a victim of circumstance (being a goalkeeper) and market opportunity as much as anything. With a new England coach on the horizon, Ramsdale might consider Jordan Pickford’s supremacy vulnerable.

Unfortunately for Ramsdale, he shares Pickford’s weakness for surrendering possession with long passing under pressure. I imagine in the short-term, he will be difficult to sell on a permanent basis and a loan will be most likely, in an administrative sense, his Arsenal career might soldier on for another year.

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