Wenger feels Ramsdale, who began the season as Arsenal’s first choice, had the characteristics required to reclaim the No. 1 slot.
Mikel Arteta’s goalkeeper selection philosophy has been challenged by Arsene Wenger, who led Arsenal from 1996 to 2018. Wenger disagrees with Arteta’s decision to replace Aaron Ramsdale as Arsenal’s first-choice custodian with David Raya.
Ramsdale, 25, began the season as Arsenal’s starting goalkeeper, featuring in the first four Premier League games.
However, in both the Premier League and the Champions League, he was replaced by Raya, 28. Raya was supposedly brought in for his stronger distribution talents, but he has come under fire for numerous gaffes, most recently in the 2-2 draw with Chelsea.
“Personally, I like Ramsdale. If I was in his position I would not give up,” Wenger told beIN Sports.
“I believe he has the chance to come back into the team.”
When asked if Ramsdale is a better goalkeeper than Raya, Wenger responded, “Better… better… I don’t know if he’s better. I just think Ramsdale has made decisive saves in the games last season. They were not happy maybe with his feet, his distribution.”
Wenger emphasised the core job of a goalkeeper. “To stop balls going in the back of the net,” he said, underlining that while distribution is important, the primary role of a goalkeeper is to defend.
“It happened to me the same with the centre backs, you want a guy who has better distribution from the back but then you realise he is less good defensively and his first job is to defend.”
In contrast to Arteta’s approach, Wenger favoured a clearly defined No 1 goalkeeper during his tenure. He said, “That’s my belief, I don’t believe in rotation with goalkeepers, I don’t believe in a lack of clarity of the hierarchy with goalkeepers. That doesn’t work.”
Meanwhile, Raya recorded his fifth clean sheet of the season in Arsenal’s 5-0 victory over Sheffield United.
The win brought Arsenal within two points of Premier League leaders Tottenham.
However, Ramsdale will be looking for an opportunity to prove his worth when Arsenal play West Ham in the Carabao Cup fourth round on Wednesday.
Wenger’s comments come as part of a broader conversation about the goalkeeper situation at Arsenal which hasn’t stopped since Raya made his debut.