Garth Crooks claims dropping Aaron Ramsdale for David Raya may come home to bite Mikel Arteta
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta decided to hand summer signing David Raya his Premier League debut for the Gunners against Everton on Sunday, with Aaron Ramsdale dropping to the bench.
The Spaniard claimed after the game that he cannot have two quality players like the duo in one position and not play them.
Arteta says Raya has tremendous qualities like Ramsdale has and he decided to give the Brentford loanee a chance.
However, Garth Crooks believes the decision could come back to haunt the Arsenal boss, especially given the fact that the England international has not made any mistake thus far this term.
“(Leandro) Trossard is very unlucky not to be in the Gunners’ starting line-up,” the BBC pundit wrote in his Team of the Week column.
“As the selection process for Mikel Arteta is starting to get a little problematic.
“Arsenal host PSV in the Champions League on Wednesday and Spurs in the north London derby four days later.
“Top players want to play in the biggest matches. Leaving Aaron Ramsdale out for David Raya when the England goalkeeper hasn’t put a foot wrong may come home to bite Arteta.
“The Arsenal manager needs to handle that situation with great sensitivity.”
It will be interesting to see how Arteta manages this situation, but having two top goalkeepers in a squad can be both a curse and a blessing.
Ramsdale would have been gutted to have been dropped to the bench, and Raya put in a fine performance.
The Spain international will be keen to retain the starting berth, and whether the manager will continue to rotate them as he suggested remains to be seen.
Arteta claimed there had been previous occasions when he wanted to switch goalies mid-match, and he may need to resort to that to keep his two options happy.
Raya was signed because Arsenal wanted stiff competition for Ramsdale, and the Spaniard’s ball-playing abilities also impressed them.
He quickly caught the attention of the coaching staff in training and the decision to start him reportedly was going to happen sooner or later.
Crooks and other pundits have made a good point but it appears Arteta has everything sorted out and will do his best to keep the duo happy.
