It’s an interesting conundrum Gareth Southgate will face later on this year when it comes to who starts in goal for England at the World Cup. We know he’s put a lot of trust into Jordan Pickford, and he’s never let his country down whenever he’s played. But we do remember that when Gareth first took over, he spoke about the importance of club form, and that he wouldn’t be picking anyone just on reputation. That’s been diluted quite a bit over the years, and if history is going to repeat itself, he’s going to stick with Pickford. But for me, if things continue as they are between now and the end of this season, and Aaron Ramsdale continues to play as well as he has done, I think he has to get opportunities to start for England.
He’s done an incredible job since joining Arsenal. Listen, he’s surprised a lot of people, myself included. You can look at his previous clubs, and while they gave him that all-important opportunity, you can say he was never really settled in a good enough team where he could regularly show what he could do at a high level.
But he’s come in and replaced a German international at Arsenal within the space of three games. Bernd Leno is a seasoned pro, and a very good goalkeeper, so you have to take your hat off to Ramsdale. He must’ve heard a lot of the talk on social media around his price tag and all of that sort of thing, and what that shows you is that the young lad has an incredible amount of self-will and determination. He’s got a great mindset as well, clearly – to be able to use that criticism and take those question marks surrounding him and turn them into encouragement, and ammunition to prove people wrong.
If anybody has an incredible amount of talent, and they’re at a team like Sheffield United who are being hammered every week – when I say hammered I mean under so much pressure – you’re going to shine; you’re going to stand out. But what he’s done now is take that to a whole different level. He’s gone to Arsenal and if anything, he’s improved dramatically since his move in the summer. He’s calmed down a bit, he’s got a platform to work on and he’s got a good balance between being involved quite a bit, because Arsenal still have their defensive issues and also showing us his ability with the ball at his feet. We didn’t really see that at Bournemouth or Sheffield United.
For me, he’s a hybrid version of Jordan Pickford and Nick Pope, he’s got the best of both of their games – he’s improving his al-round game all the time, and for me that’s the most impressive thing about him.