Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale may be facing a slightly uncertain future at the moment, and Michail Antonio has weighed in on the situation by saying he could see him being a good fit for Newcastle United.
Ramsdale was the established number one for Arsenal last season, but that’s no longer the case now that David Raya has joined the Gunners, with the Spanish shot-stopper now seemingly firmly ahead of the England international in Mikel Arteta’s pecking order.
Ramsdale may feel slightly hard done by on that, but the reality is that he will surely have to think about a move away from the Emirates Stadium if he is to get back to playing more often and challenging for a place in Gareth Southgate’s squad for the Euros this summer.
Discussing the situation on the Footballers’ Football Podcast, Antonio suggested he could see Ramsdale doing well at Newcastle due to being better than Nick Pope at playing out from the back.
However, that competition for the number one spot in Eddie Howe’s side will surely be an issue, as the West Ham man acknowledged.
“I think it would be a very good fit. Newcastle like to play out from the back, Ramsdale can do that, we’ve seen him do that at Arsenal,” Antonio said.
“He’s a very good shot-stopper and a good goalkeeper. The question I have is, when Pope comes back, what would they do? Pope is an unbelievable shot-stopper, one of the best, but he can’t play out. He’s not comfortable with it at all.
“Is Eddie Howe doing this so he can have a playing goalkeeper? Or just for the rivalry [between the goalkeepers]?”
Some Arsenal fans would surely just rather Ramsdale stayed as he could well continue to fight for his place and win it back from Raya, who has not been entirely convincing since his move from Brentford.