Jeremie Aliadiere: Arsenal made the signing of the season last summer
Jeremie Aliadiere claims that Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale has proved himself as the "signing of the season"
Jeremie Aliadiere has claimed that Arsenal made the “signing of the season” by landing Aaron Ramsdale from Sheffield United last summer.
The Gunners completed a deal to sign the English goalkeeper from the Blades in August last year for a fee which was reported could rise to as much as £30m.
Ramsdale has quickly established himself as the club’s number one shot-stopper between the posts, with the 23-year-old having started 22 of Arsenal’s 25 games in the Premier League so far this season.
The shot-stopper has been earning lots of praise for his strong performances in the Arsenal goal lately and he will be hoping to help the north London side to qualify for next season’s Champions League via a top-four finish.
Now, former Arsenal forward Aliadiere has admitted that he has been proved completely wrong by Ramsdale since his move last summer, describing the goalkeeper as the “signing of the season”.
Speaking in an interview with Bonuscodebets.co.uk, Aliadiere said: “I was probably like a lot of the Arsenal fans. I was a bit, ‘god, did we really need to spend £30m on Ramsdale?’.
“You expected, not obviously bigger on money because £50m for Ben White, it’s a lot of money, but you expected bigger names, more proven players at the top level? But I must say, I was completely wrong.
“For me, Ramsdale is the signing of the season. He’s been amazing, has kept us in so many games. If you think about all of the saves that he’s made, if he wasn’t there, we wouldn’t have been near the top four, for me.”
Arsenal are currently preparing for their home clash against Leicester City in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon as they look to make it five wins on the spin in the top flight.
The Gunners start the weekend in fourth place in the Premier League table as they chase a top-four finish for the first time since 2016.
Aliadiere reckons that this is Arsenal’s best shot at securing Champions League football for many years.
“You never know, we can finish top three,” said Aliadiere. “We could go and nick Chelsea’s position, as we’re quite close now, we’re getting back. So yeah, I’m really excited and positive about how the end of the season is going to turn out for us.
“The players seem to be on form. I think the fact that there was no Europe this season, they’ve managed to really focus on the Premier League.
“Now there’s no cup competitions left, they only have one game a week, we see the same starting XI, they all seem to really go in the same direction, fight together, fight for the club and it’s great to see.
“I really hope we will end up in that top four.”
