I thought that was established.
The interest is real and he is our #1 target for GK at the moment. That whole 40m nonsense was just filler from British media to rile up viewers and clicks.
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Thing here is, itās not like Ben White were people think we maybe over spending itās more nobody rates Ramsdale.
Think this would have been the reaction if a link was established before any fee was mentioned.
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I wasnāt taking it too seriously to be honest until now, it was hard logically to understand why we would be in for him, and with such a high price tag, even 20m being a lot unless it is for a first choice GK, which is where it all gets weird to put the pieces together. Then again, trying not to be negative, but the way we handled and sold Emi didnāt make sense either.
Yeah, I mean, if weāre going for a relegated keeper, then itās a no brainer which one is better out of him and Ramsdale.
Though, did you listen to Arsecast yesterday? Had a Sheffield United fan on and he said that second half of the season Ramsdale was amazing, but his reputation from the first half stuck.
Still, though, Ā£30m for him is a joke.
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Hindsight is 20/20.
Iām a bit bored with this talk about how he left. Weāve lost far better players than Emi. Used to be a fan of him and was in the camp of selling Leno and keeping him but thereās no point crying over that.
Ramsdale seems very highly regarded by people within football. I think one of, if not the biggest reason people are against him is the Onana situation. I think many got attached to that move.
I think we were linked with Ramsdale from the get go as a replacement for Mat Ryan people wouldnāt have reacted so negatively about him.
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Iām not a āI told ya soā guy, but it wasnāt hindsight in my case. If one of the two was to be let go I wanted it to be Leno, and I said 20m was way underpriced for Emi also. All that is done with now anyway, canāt do anything about it now, but just saying it is not a hindsight thing in my case.
You have a good point regarding Ramsdale; with Onana in the conversation, we do wonder about Ramsdaleās kicking, passing, and distribution. Heās not renowned for any of that, but at least he is hopefully competent. Iām still confused over whether the plan is to risk him coming in immediately as #1 with Leno sold this summer. Maybe Arteta has a gentlemanās agreement with Leno for him to stick around another 6-12 months (?), who knows.
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Yep, and he equally believed that he would be upset if they didnāt get Ā£30M for him. So the suggestion regarding the price being crazy isnāt far off.
Absolute madness.
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My understanding is that the club is open to sell Leno if a sufficient bid arrives. He is considering his options as well but there isnāt any concrete offer so far. Wheatley said he is not in rush to leave and neither is the club to move him on.
Fabrizio said a month or two ago that he has teams monitoring him but none of them have made any advancements towards a deal. He highlighted that there arenāt many clubs looking for a goalkeeper so it would be hard to find a market for him now. Plus, everyoneās broke outside of the PL.
I canāt see him leaving this summer personally. I think heāll explore that more next summer. Reckon he is motivated to have a good season and see what opportunities pop up.
Couple of Serie A teams and La Liga teams may look for a goalie then and hopefully their financial situation is looking healthier.
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Doesnāt matter. No one was bidding anything for Leno and 20m was something like the top ten fees paid for a goalie ever. It was clearly the right decision under the exact circumstances presented.
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Are you saying even with hindsight you would still do the same?
Iām saying hindsight is irrelevant.
Please answer the question.
Your statement that hindsight is irrelevant is based on assumptions, not statements of fact. Leno was not put up for sale so bids were not invited and you do not know as a fact that no clubs enquired about him.
On top of that you are stating Emi had to be sold. That is not a fact, both were still undef multi-year contracts. Therefore there is no matter of fact āEmi had to be soldā, and hence I am trying to establish if you still agree with the choices made, and whether you would still do the same.
No. Itās not relevant. Iāve stated my reasons.
You wouldnāt have to dig too far back to find me saying we should keep both players.
Your opinion is it iis irrelevant, based on assumptions.
Edit: ā¦ and I see you are saying your prior stance was we should have kept both (?). Yes, indeed we could, that is one of my points made. I would have looked to sell Leno, but we could have also allowed a natural competition between the two play out for another 6-12 months. We had choices, we didnāt have to sell Emi, so why are you saying hindsight is irrelevant (?).
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Eh, Iām talking about what actually happened chief.
Your wording was:
āIt was clearly the right decision under the exact circumstances presented.ā
ā¦ and you are free to stand by that opinion, which I will state with confidence likely is in a small minority among the fan base, but you are welcome to stick by it and defend it.
Blah blah blah. Iām not trying to rewrite history here.
What I would have done as a fan is keep both and encourage competition.
The situation that presented itself was a fee in the top ten ever offered for a keeper was made for one guy and no one gave a shit about the other.
It wasnāt a tough call under the circumstances.
This āTop 10 feeā stuff is just the way stats can be used as spin. Transfer fees generally trend up over time, and Chelsea bought Kepa for 70m. I instinctively felt at the time that going price for a keeper showing the form Emi was in in Lenoās absence, including the FA Cup run was a lot more than 20m. I know my opinion on that is pretty mainstream.
Again, it is all opinions, not certainties or facts. Happy to have different opinions.
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Ah yes the old āthe other pros love himā line of thinking. Thatās basically how we ended up with Arteta as coach even when heās looked super out of his depth.
We even heard similar things about Willian last summer. How he was such a āproās pro.ā
Maybe he is a wonderful guy. Heās also been relegated what, four years out of the last five? No thanks.
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So itās down to him why they were relegated? 