David Seaman says £25m Arsenal player’s passing ability is being ‘overlooked’

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Aaron Ramsdale isn’t having the easiest of times at Arsenal right now.

The England international has been dropped by Mikel Arteta in favour of David Raya, and it would appear that Arteta prefers Raya due to his perceived greater ability with the ball at his feet.

Indeed, even before he came to Arsenal, Raya was lauded for his ability with the ball, and it looks as though Arteta has bought into that narrative, actively encouraging the Spaniard to play in quite a risky manner between the sticks.

This has led to Ramsdale being demoted to second-choice at the Emirates. However, speaking on the Seaman Says Podcast, David Seaman has claimed that the £25m man’s passing ability isn’t actually that much worse than Raya’s, claiming that he’s actually very good with the ball at his feet himself.

Ramsdale’s passing overlooked

Seaman gave his verdict on the goalkeeper.

“I think that is getting overlooked a bit. David Raya is so good at that and people are saying ‘Raya is so good with his feet’. And I’m like ‘well, he’s not that far behind him.’ Because when you watch him, he’s actually good with his feet,” Seaman said.

More than adequate

Seaman is absolutely right here, Ramsdale’s passing and distribution was absolutely fine last season.

Yes, he’s not Andre Onana or Raya where he’s basically playing as an auxiliary sweeper, but he’s not useless with the ball at his feet, and he was as steady as they came in terms of traditional goalkeeping attributes too.

To us, it just seems like Mikel Arteta has overcomplicated things for the sake of it, and while Raya does add that extra element to Arsenal’s build-up, it’s not really making much of a difference so far.

This is a bizarre situation that we still really can’t get our heads around.