Ex-Arsenal star bemoans Arteta’s transfer decision as ‘very good guy’ needs ‘special’ treatment
According to ex-Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno, Mikel Arteta was wrong to sign David Raya to compete with England international Aaron Ramsdale.
The Englishman was bought for around £30m from Sheffield United in 2021 and he competed with Leno for the number one spot.
He swiftly ousted Leno, who made just eight appearances for Arsenal during the 2021/22 campaign before joining Fulham last year.
Ramsdale has shone for the Gunners over the past couple of seasons as he has been one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League.
Despite this, Arteta opted to sign Raya on loan from Brentford during the summer transfer window. This initial loan deal is expected to be made permanent next year and the total cost of this deal will be £30m.
Ramsdale start Arsenal’s first couple of games this season but Raya has now started three games in a row across all competitions.
In an interview with The Times, Leno has suggested that “there are some similarities” between himself and Ramsdale as he “knows” how the current Arsenal star “feels”.
“At the start of the 2021 season, we lost the first three games and after the international break all of a sudden it was, ‘We need to change players and have positive energy,’ ” Leno told The Times. “There were a couple of excuses I didn’t understand and I have to say, unfortunately, it’s more or less the same with Ramsdale.
“It has happened [again] after the international break. I was thinking: ‘That’s more or less the same as with me!’ I was thinking about Aaron, he’s a very good guy. I know how he feels, there are some similarities.
“When I wanted to fight for my place, the goalkeeper coach said, ‘You have to leave the club.’ When he said it wasn’t about performance, I knew straight away I had to leave. I don’t know if they didn’t want two strong keepers. I had one year left on my contract. So it was the last time to make money off me.”
Leno also thinks Arteta is foolish to have two top-quality goalkeepers in his squad because the goalkeeping department is a “special position”.
“I experienced a substitution just the one time in my career when Petr Cech got injured and I was lucky it was half-time, but if you come on at minute 60 and you have been sitting on the bench, you are not in the flow, that’s very tough,” Leno added.
“I’m looking forward to seeing if he [Arteta] will do that in a game or if he just said that, but I don’t think many [managers] would do that.
“Goalkeeper is a special position and should be treated as special, I think. Because you need consistency. A good example was when I first came to Arsenal, I played in the Premier League and Cech played in the Europa League and the cup games and I spoke to the defenders and they said they don’t feel comfortable with that, with different keepers and different characteristics.”
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