Garth Crooks believes that Aaron Ramsdale has demonstrated that he has what it takes to play for England following his strong start to the season at Arsenal.
The goalkeeper was named as the man of the match on Saturday lunchtime as he helped Arsenal to keep a clean sheet in their 2-0 victory away to Leicester City.
Ramsdale was widely praised for his performance in goal after he produced a high-quality save to deny James Maddison’s free-kick at the end of the first half.
He then backed up that brilliant save with a number of other key stops in the second half to help Mikel Arteta’s men keep a clean sheet at the King Power Stadium as Arsenal notched up their fifth win of the season.
Ramsdale has firmly established himself as Arsenal’s number one between the posts after Bernd Leno had initially started the campaign in goal for the Gunners.
And former Tottenham star Crooks believes that Ramsdale is worthy of a first run-out with the senior England team following his recent showings.
Writing in his team of the week column for BBC Sport, Crooks said: “To get a hand to the ball in the first place took some doing.
“To keep the shot from entering the back of the net from an excellent James Maddison free-kick was world class.
“However, it was Ramsdale’s immediate recovery and re-positioning to stop further shots going over the line that impressed me most.
“Ramsdale has been a big hit since his arrival at Arsenal. Is he good enough to play for England? I don’t see why not on this showing.”
The goalkeeper himself played down his spectacular save on Saturday despite it drawing widespread praise.
“It’s just all about reactions,” Ramsdale said. “I was more worried that he was going to reverse it into my corner but as it was a close free-kick, he sort of had to get it up and over the wall and that gave me a chance. He couldn’t really whip it like he normally does.
“From then on, it’s about explosion. If you get there, you get there and if not, you don’t. I’ll watch it back. It’s just one of those that can go either way.”
Ramsdale will be expecting to start when the Gunners host Watford in their next Premier League game on Sunday.