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Arsenal's situation with goalkeepers Aaron Ramsdale and David Raya has continued to dominate the headlines in recent weeks after Mikel Arteta's decision to change his first-choice number one.
Since 2021, Ramsdale has been the main main inbetween the sticks having replaced Bernd Leno. However, Raya's summer move from Brentford to provide competition has placed his future in north London into doubt.
Ramsdale had played in the first four games of the season but has only managed to appear once in the last five weeks with Raya being preferred. The decision to use the Spaniard has been heavily criticised in recent weeks after a handful of errors.
After seeing his error against RC Lens result in a goal, Raya was lobbed by Mykhailo Mudryk in the 2-2 draw with Chelsea after poor positioning. Raya's performance in the Champions League against Sevilla also provided some question marks, resulting in further calls for Ramsdale to return.
Arteta's decision to sign a new goalkeeper has caused endless problems for the Gunners, with every Raya performance under the spotlight at the moment. The arrival of the Brentford loanee has also put paid to Ramsdale's dream of playing in the Champions League, for now at least.
In July, the goalkeeper spoke to TNT Sports about wanting to be involved in the club's long-awaited return to the competition. “I can kind of understand what it's about and everyone wants to play in it,” he said. “You want to be involved in it and hear that magical music at the start.
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“So yeah, we look forward to seeing where we get to go and this is the thing, you get to go to some of the best places, best stadiums in the world and you want to see how you fare against them.
“Obviously it'll be the first time for a lot of us, it'll be a new experience but one which people might not know how we're going to react and we could surprise a few people.”
Ramsdale continued to discuss the prospect of playing in Europe's prestigious competition. "You've got the two Spanish giants. I think everyone wants to play there.
“But I quite like maybe the smaller ones with probably the more hostile atmospheres, like the ones you would never think about going to, almost sort of 'bucket list' type stadiums where it gets really atmospheric, and you get to challenge yourself.
“So it'll be good to see where we end up and hopefully, we can go really well in that tournament and see where it goes.”
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