Really happy with this second summer Newcastle United signing – Now just these 3(4?) more | OneFootball

Another summer, another goalkeeper. We have now officially signed Aaron Ramsdale. The multi relegated, Ed Sheeran lookalike, sometimes England goalkeeper, is a Newcastle United player.

I am going to put myself right out there and express my absolute delight.

Every summer I write an article exploring which relegated players I believe could be good signings for Newcastle United. It’s a market we have regularly dipped into over the last decade, even post-takeover.

In the current Newcastle United squad we have Osula, Livramento, Barnes and Pope, all signed by our current owners from sides after they have slipped from the Premier League.

From the many players I’ve highlighted down the years, Aaron Ramsdale is the third we’ve actually signed.

The other two were Salomon Rondon and Callum Wilson. Both of whom were player of the season in their debut seasons for the club (Rondon’s only season admittedly).

Wilson was a no-brainer in fairness, he had Premier League goalscoring pedigree, but I remember the Rondon suggestion not going down too well.

Likewise, I don’t think I got a lot of support in the comments this time around for Aaron Ramsdale.

Here’s what I said in the original article, which due to shocking performances of the relegated sides was published four games prior to the end of the season:

I think many will scoff at this but Aaron Ramsdale is a player I’ve admired for a long time. As this is possibly the most contentious of my choices, I will spend the longest explaining my decision.

I have held the conviction for many years that Ramsdale is the best English goalkeeper out there. Southampton’s demise means he’s now been relegated three times. All with different clubs. However, in all the teams he’s gone down with, he’s been one of the few players to come out with any credit. During the relegation seasons with both Bournemouth and Sheffield United he was voted their player of the season. I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets the same award from Southampton this time around.

Despite that long track record of relegations he has, of course, had experience at a top side. Arsenal shed £30 million on the then 23 year old. Bizarrely, after two years in which he didn’t do a lot wrong, Raya was brought in, and Ramsdale only managed six league appearances in his final season at the club. The fact that Arteta doesn’t rate him doesn’t put me off in the slightest. It would make it all the sweeter should he be a success at our club.

His shot stopping is up there with any of our current keepers, but his distribution is far superior.

We’ve been long time admirers of Trafford. I’ll admit I haven’t seen much of him in the Championship, and he is also young, especially for a goalie. In the year Burnley went down he didn’t impress me greatly. He ended up replaced for the tail end of the season by Muric (a keeper who has gone on to Ipswich, let in some howlers this season and been replaced himself).

Full credit to Trafford this season though. He has only conceded 15 goals and Burnley have a record 29 clean sheets so he must be half decent. He’s also just been announced in the Championship team of the season. He could well grow into the next England number 1 and one of the Premier League’s best so I wouldn’t be averse to us signing him.

But my article is about relegated players that I think could improve our team/squad. I love Pope for all he’s done for us, and he has a medal for his efforts but at times he hasn’t looked the same since his shoulder injury and I do think overall Ramsdale is a better keeper than him.

Ramsdale is currently second for shots saved in the Premier League with only Flekken above him. Sure, he has to face a lot more shots than other keepers, but he was also injured for a spell and has only played in 26 of 34 possible games this season. Southampton only earned one point in his absence and haven’t managed a clean sheet in any competition when Ramsdale didn’t start. Not that the three he’s picked up are much to write home about.

I’ve got a feeling we sign Trafford or Ramsdale this summer and Howe has recruited the latter before. I wouldn’t be upset if he repeated the trick.’

As it happens, we tried to sign both keepers mentioned.

Man City have splashed out on Trafford and I’m sure their scouting team has a tad more knowledge than myself.

However, I am over the moon that we’ve signed Aaron Ramsdale. I’ve been saying to my kids for the last few weeks that Ramsdale would be my ideal number one so I was thrilled when we were finally linked to him last week.

After those final four games of the season, Ramsdale actually finished joint top for saves per 90, according to the official Premier League website. His reflexes are up there with the best in the league. Imagine how he’ll fare in a team that isn’t exposing him multiple times a game.

Yes, he’s been relegated three times. However, he’s also played 183 Premier League matches, had over £64m spent on him, picked up two club player of the season awards and got into the PFA team of the year in 22/23 whilst at Arsenal (ironically, the season before Raya was brought in to challenge him).

He helped Arsenal rise from their two consecutive 8th place finishes to 5th in his first season and then runners up in his second.

He just turned 27 in May so has his best years ahead of him. There aren’t many goalkeepers that reach as many top flight appearances by that age. Established England number one Jordan Pickford had 176 at the end of the season in which he turned 27 and Newcastle legend Shay Given had 181. I know that doesn’t mean everything, especially when a lot of that time was spent at naff teams, but it shows he’s got an abundance of high level experience.

Reading the Southampton fan comments, it’s clear they rate him. He appears to be one of only a few players to come out of a shocking season with any credit. The Arsenal fans that I know think he’s excellent too.

He seems to be a goalkeeper who only gets the credit he deserves from the fans of the clubs he plays for. Many neutrals don’t rate him. Hopefully, by the end of this season, we’ll be well and truly on the Aaron Ramsdale bandwagon. Yes, he makes errors, which keeper doesn’t? The fact that those who’ve watched him week in, week out are generally favourable in their opinions of him is telling.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens with the rest of the goalkeeping situation at Newcastle. There are now reports that Dubravka could be moving to Lancashire to join Pope’s old club Burnley. Having Ramsdale and Pope will make us extremely strong in that department but neither is going to be happy to settle for second choice so it will be interesting to see how that develops.

I’d be amazed if Pope doesn’t start as number one, but I’d expect the new signing to be pushing him all the way and the dream is that both keepers raise their levels thanks to the competition.

Now we just need another striker, a centre back, centre midfielder and an end to the Isak saga (with him staying in Toon ideally). If all that happens I’d be pretty chuffed with this window.