Arsenal first choice goalkeeper but now a second choice, Aaron Ramsdale has expressed how suffering and hurting its, for not playing regularly at the club.
The 25-year-old signed a new contract last season but has found himself on the bench after summer signing Raya broke into the side and has started just once – a Carabao Cup win at Brentford – since mid-September.
Speaking on international duty with England, Ramsdale insisted that his relationship with Raya was good despite being usurped but did admit he was struggling.
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He said:
“Whether it is me or David who plays we need to be able to just focus and play but at the same time, it’s a strange, big headline.
“It’s one that we’re working through as a club and it’s one that the manager puts in front of us and we have to deal with it.
That is what we are doing.
“We are with each other for three or four hours a day – there are four or five of us in that [goalkeeper] group so if we don’t get on it wouldn’t work.
“We work professionally really well together. We push each other in training and there’s days where I come in and I’m down because of the situation and he picks me up.
“For whatever reason there might be a day where he’s down and even though I’m suffering and hurting for not playing I have to stand up and be able to push him.”
Ramsdale’s reactions on the bench were commented on by Jamie Carragher in the recent North London Derby,
but the goalkeeper feels like sometimes you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.
“Because it’s one of the first times it’s happened with the situation, it has been difficult.
“There are times where you’re doing the right thing but it’s the wrong thing and if you don’t do it, it’s the wrong thing.
“So it’s a double-edged sword.
“There’s a lot … a lot of attention. It’s a position where it’s famously said if you’re not spoken about, it means you’ve done a good job. There’s a lot of talk at the minute.”
