‘That’s the big question’: Rio Ferdinand thinks Arsenal man has now taken a massive risk after the weekend

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Rio Ferdinand has suggested that Mikel Arteta has taken a risk by dropping Aaron Ramsdale and bringing in David Raya, insisting that it is not yet clear whether the Arsenal man will be able to handle the decision in the right way.

Ferdinand was speaking on his YouTube channel after the Gunners’ 1-0 win over Everton which provided a number of noteworthy incidents.

Mikel Arteta made a big call by deciding to leave Aaron Ramsdale out of the starting lineup. Instead, David Raya was handed his debut for the Gunners following his summer loan switch.

Raya kept a clean sheet. But it appears that Arteta does not see Arsenal as having a number one goalkeeper. In fact, he suggested after the win that he could even substitute his goalkeepers during games (via The Times).

Ferdinand says Arteta is taking a risk with Arsenal goalkeepers

It appears that Arteta is preparing to use his goalkeepers like no-one else probably has in Premier League history. Certainly, it is unorthodox to be so open about rotating two goalkeepers, and being prepared to potentially do it so regularly.

It is a big shift from what Ramsdale will have been used to. The Englishman has spent the majority of his time at Arsenal as the number one.

And with that, Ferdinand believes that Arteta has taken a big gamble.

“Aaron Ramsdale has been your number one goalkeeper, everyone has been singing his praises. There has been a clamour of people saying he should be the England goalkeeper,” he told his YouTube channel. “And then he starts the season, had his best season in his career – bearing in mind before that he’d been relegated a couple of times – he’s had a fantastic season, new-found confidence, new-found image, reputation, and then the manager goes and says, ‘no, no, no, you’re not my outright number one’.

“That’s what he’s been brought up on, being the outright number one, that’s the culture. ‘No, no, no, you’re going to fight it out with someone. And actually he may come in in game now and actually, a certain game he’s going to play, and you’re not going to play’. What does that do to his confidence?

“Not saying there’s anything wrong with it, but it’s a big shift in culture. Mikel Arteta’s taken a risk in that can this goalkeeper deal with that? That’s the big question that has to be asked. And this season will tell us.”

It was always going to be fascinating to see how Arteta would use Ramsdale and Raya. Both are more than good enough to be undisputed first-choice for some of the best teams in the league.

The signing of Raya showed that Arteta was not content with his goalkeeper options in one way or another. And that was quite something when you consider how inspired a signing Ramsdale has been.

It appears that Arteta is going to use his goalkeepers in a very different way than many would have expected.

Perhaps it may be a game-changer for Arsenal. Or perhaps it may prove to be a real error from Arteta to rock the boat when he really did not need to.