‘Hoping’: Matt Turner says he really wants Arteta to start £30m Arsenal player regularly this season

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Matt Turner has been discussing his time at Arsenal and the impending arrival of David Raya and admitted that he hopes old pal Aaron Ramsdale remains number one.

Ramsdale is about to come under pressure, with Raya’s arrival from Brentford set to be confirmed soon.

It gives Mikel Arteta two number one goalkeepers to choose from and there is even talk of Raya dislodging Ramsdale from the outset.

But Turner, speaking to ESPN after leaving for Nottingham Forest, believes Raya needs to embrace the culture of Arsenal first, and admitted he’d like to see Ramsdale remain the main man.

“Work hard, it’s not going to be easy. No matter how well you train, make the most of your opportunities, I guess, but Aaron’s a really great goalkeeper, but I guess also the culture,” Turner said.

“You need to understand the culture of being at Arsenal. You need to be able to push, but also support and I think that’s something that I did really well. I was pushing, but I was also there to support, not only Aaron but the best of the team.

“There’s no doubt that I pushed him every single day, he became a really solid goalkeeper last year. It felt like every time I played well in the Europa League or FA Cup he followed that up with two or three really good performances in the league.

“Every time I thought the door was a little bit cracked, he stepped his performances up on the pitch and I know I pushed him every day in training and I can hold that close to my heart and I’m happy to see him doing well and I’m hoping that he can stay between the sticks.”

Ramsdale and Raya battle fascinating

It will be really interesting to see how this plays out over the season. Shay Given called it on MOTD in that he thinks Mikel Arteta is making a problem for himself.

But really, it will only be a problem if one of Raya or Ramsdale start getting tetchy about being left out.

Ramsdale is the man for now. But it won’t take long for Raya to settle in and if he does get a chance and does well, then Arsenal might quickly find themselves with a new number one.