Arsenal’s goalkeeping dilemma was one of the key talking points during the last Premier League season.
Mikel Arteta made the bold move of replacing Aaron Ramsdale with David Raya at the start of the campaign, and that decision garnered mixed reactions.
Some criticised Arteta for making change for change’s sake, while others believed this was a necessary change.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Tony Adams has shared his verdict on the Arsenal goalkeeping situation, and he’s given an interesting view on the matter.
Indeed, Mr Arsenal himself stated that rather than Raya or Ramsdale, he’d most liked to have see Emi Martinez as Arsenal’s number one.
Tony Adams suggests Arsenal shouldn’t have sold Martinez
Adams shared his verdict on Arsenal’s goalkeeping dilemmas and the £20m man.
“In terms of this season, David Raya was the goalkeeper, we expect Arsenal to make that deal permanent, what do you make of that?
“I liked Martinez to be honest with you. I thought he was a perfectly great goalkeeper, but Arteta isn’t afraid to make a decision,” Adams said.
Martinez would be Arsenal number one
Adams raises an interesting point here.
Arsenal have made a controversial decision with their goalkeepers this year, but all of this could’ve been avoided if they’d just kept Martinez.
The Argentine was voted as the best goalkeeper in the world last year, and there’s every argument to make that he’d be the Gunners’ number one ahead of both Raya and Ramsdale.
Of course, hindsight is 20/20 and it’s easy to say now that Martinez may have been the Gunners’ best bet, but, at the time the South American was barely established as a goalkeeper, and it would’ve been a serious gamble to hand him the number one shirt ahead of Bernd Leno.
If Mikel Arteta could turn back time, perhaps he never would’ve let Martinez go and he’d be the Gunners’ current number one.