England boss Gareth Southgate hopes Aaron Ramsdale can force his way back into the Arsenal starting XI to keep his place in the Three Lions squad.
WHAT HAPPENED?
Ramsdale has fallen out of favour at the Gunners as Mikel Arteta has preferred David Raya as his first-choice goalkeeper, limiting the England international to just six Premier League appearances this season. Despite his struggles, Southgate named the 25-year-old in the 23-man squad for the upcoming friendlies against Brazil and Belgium.
WHAT SOUTHGATE SAID
“We have picked the three goalkeepers we think are the best,” Southgate told reporters. “It’s not ideal that Aaron’s not playing. But he showed last week, to respond to the mistake the way that he did, that he has the mental resilience to play for England. In that position on the pitch, in particular, that’s crucial.”
England boss Gareth Southgate hopes Aaron Ramsdale can force his way back into the Arsenal starting XI to keep his place in the Three Lions squad.
Ramsdale struggling for playing time
Second choice at Arsenal behind Raya
Given call-up to England squad
WHAT HAPPENED?
Ramsdale has fallen out of favour at the Gunners as Mikel Arteta has preferred David Raya as his first-choice goalkeeper, limiting the England international to just six Premier League appearances this season. Despite his struggles, Southgate named the 25-year-old in the 23-man squad for the upcoming friendlies against Brazil and Belgi
“We have picked the three goalkeepers we think are the best,” Southgate told reporters. “It’s not ideal that Aaron’s not playing. But he showed last week, to respond to the mistake the way that he did, that he has the mental resilience to play for England. In that position on the pitch, in particular, that’s crucial.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Ramsdale was handed his first Premier League start since November as on-loan Raya was ineligible to play against his parent club Brentford last week. Ramsdale made a significant error that gifted the Bees an equaliser, but pulled off some strong saves in the second half as the north London side secured the win. Raya then returned to the starting XI and his heroics in his team’s penalty shootout against Porto saw Arteta’s side progress to the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
Despite Arteta standing by Raya, Southgate believes there is still hope for Ramsdale, saying: “We still believe he can force his way back into the team there [at Arsenal]. That will be more difficult after the penalty shoot-out the other day I would imagine. But he’s just got to keep pushing every day and training well every day. I think if we’ve got three goalkeepers and one isn’t regular, it’s not perfect, but at this moment in time we are prepared to take that chance.”
WHAT NEXT FOR RAMSDALE?
The Arsenal shot-stopper will hope to keep Southgate’s faith and compete with fellow goalkeepers Jordan Pickford and Sam Johnstone to earn a place in England’s starting XI in the build-up to Euro 2024.
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