Sheffield United manager Slavisa Jokanovic says he wouldn’t sell goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale for £100 million but accepts his club’s owners may have other ideas.
Arsenal are known to have been in talks with the Blades this summer about a possible deal for the England international but the two clubs have reached an impasse in negotiations.
Last week, The Athletic reported that the Gunners, having had an offer rebuffed, were ready to look elsewhere for competition for Bernd Leno.
Ramsdale has featured in both of Sheffield United’s league games so far but was left out of the EFL Cup defeat to Carlisle ensuring he’s not cup tied for the competition.
Facing the press today, Jokanovic, admitted that Ramsdale’s head has been turned by Arsenal’s interests but warned that it’ll take big money to prise him away from Bramall Lane.
“I can understand that there is interest in him, as one of the most talented English players,” Jokanovic said.
“But because he’s one of the best players in the league, his price is really high. It’s natural that he wants to be a Premier League player.
“I am talking with him and he believes it can be a good move for himself, but it’s not a bad thing for him if he stays with us.
“In the end it is the decision of Arsenal. If they want him, they need to spend a lot of money. It can happen, but it is something I don’t want. If you ask me if I want to sell him for £100m, I say no.
“But I can understand the business side of both clubs and of Aaron too. He understands very well what I want. I’m not the guy who wants to sell him for any price. If Arsenal want to offer £100m and it was up to me, I’d say no. But I must be responsible and prudent for the club too.”
Edu two weeks from now: I’m delighted we were able to play hardball and negotiate Sheffield down to £99m
lol. It would be funnier if it didn’t feel like a real possibility.
99 million and a 99 ice cream for each member of their staff
£100,000,001
Looking at Ben White’s performance, we can expect Ramsdale to be one of the worst keepers in Arsenal’s history.
My bet is we will sell him for less than 5mn pounds after 2 yrs, or he leaves on loan forever for free
He is worse than Leno with the ball at his feet and that takes some doing.
The biggest concern at this point is if we decide to move on from Arteta how much money there will be for a new manager. We’ve backed Arteta pretty seriously in light of how bad our finances are with the pandemic. We can’t afford for transfers like this to go wrong.
Koscielny was terrible in the first half of his debut season
he arrived from ligue1, needed to get upto speed-
the worst thing about the ben white signing was that we had a player of equivalent potential whom we had spent nearing 30million on yet we chose not to give him a chance as artetas ego has become over inflated by sitting next to pep for 2 years
arteta out by xmas
wenger in
Kos didn’t arrive with the price tag nor the ovulation
I hope he wasn’t ovulating
Hah! Explains why he got angry, went on strike and moved to Bordeaux
Then here’s hoping White settles down after a bedding in period
What would we do without autocorrect?
And the next 7 or 8!
Really? After 1 game?
Saliba didn’t get even one game in 3 years, Bro. Arteta has set these standards, don’t blame me.
Fag ash.
Will he be grilling on the bbq when he makes this announcement?
I really don’t understand this.
why are we buying a new keeper? If it’s because Leno wants to go a year after he forced emi to go then surely either edu has to go or Leno does.
why can’t we buy onana and tell Leno he has to wait until jan?
if it’s an English thing then go and buy butland or some other shit player…until jan.
outsmart the market? Your outsmarting yourselves
Think the problem is no one wants leno. I would rather a new keeper came in now than watching him play down his contract for the next two seasons.
I think Leno is an excellent keeper (I don’t think we can’t get much better – we’re not in Europe). But considering we had the chance to keep Emi on last season and now we’re trying buy an expensive and unproven keeper to replace Leno is unquestionably fucking stupid.
Arguably the worst keeper in the Premier League. I’m certain we could do a great deal better. Ramsdale is probably not the answer especially at his inflated price, but there are surely vastly superior keepers around. Sam Johnstone for starters.
I think Ramsdale had the 3rd highest save percentage last seaon, 2nd highest number of saves and interestingly after the Brentford match the second highest number of high claims.
None of those numbers make him the worst in the league does it?
Agree that Martinez was the better option, the fee for him supposedly went toward the partey transfer
And that;s been a total waste of money on a permacrock.
I agree, any time I say he’s been ordinary so far I get told I don’t know what I’m talking about. To me last year’s transfer window is looking like the year we bought mustafi xhaka and Perez. If anyone can point me to a game he was good in I will gladly rewatch it and admit I am wrong.
Please don’t use excellent for an average keeper. Leno saves the shots that can be saved, and rest go in. I never see Leno winning/saving matches by making excellent saves.
My assessment, he is 12th ranked keeper in EPL, which is not excellent for the most expensive keeper in Arsenal history.
His form has fallen off for sure, but dude was arguably POTY for us before getting hurt and Emi coming in. The crazy double save against Spu*s is just one example of match saving that comes to mind
Having said that, I’m still okay if we replace him, but haven’t seen much of Ramsdale
I think we can do quite a bit better than Leno in terms of the keeper’s all round game.
Leno simply hasn’t improved on his weaknesses for 2 years
Nope. He will be offered a cpntract extension if noone wants to buy it. Happens to useless shit at our club
Leno’s confidence looks shot at the min
It really does. He was excellent for 2 & a half seasons but his form has fallen off dramatically since the middle of last season. I was hoping the summer break would change that but on the evidence of Brentford it really hasn’t which is very worrying.
Looks like him and several others wanted out this summer but no joy add to that the search for an expensive backup and the writings on the wall
Defo, he is not helped by the weak defence in front of him or from Arteta who wants to play out from the back with a team that cannot do it. Why on Friday night does no one get the Brentford player off him for the 2nd goal. There are very few players in the team with confidence at the mo and thats down to Arteta not willing to change tactics to suit the team.
I’d agree with you on that. For me it looks like he’s lost the seniors in the dressing room and only the young lads are doing it for him.
I think Arteta has lost the dressing room. It’s been a glaringly obvious block in his man management skills. He’s out of his depth. The youngsters will always take the opportunity to play. I would love to think he is cutting the cancer out the club but I’m not so sure. I suspect we are getting worse and he will be gone by Xmas.
I don’t dislike Arteta I just think he needs time at a smaller club to find his way a bit out of the limelight. Other than the young lads nobody looks like they’re happy there and it doesn’t matter who comes in there’s a cloud over the place and they will struggle kick on.
Hard to argue with that, wouldn’t be surprised if the aubameyang and lacazette thing is a fallout and not illness.
I’m not sure about losing the dressing room, but there is one glaring issue in my opinion. The fact that he gave the armband to Xhaka and not Tierney has put the team on the back foot. Why would you want to play your heart out for a manager that doesn’t get the need for a real spirit in the team? Xhaka has never played with the same attitude he did for the Swiss side. He never will. As for Ramsdale, he’s a keeper who’s slightly above average for the EPL and therefore would be a reasonable choice for backup,… Read more »
Totally agree with your first sentence. For Brentford’s 2nd goal though I think that’s on Leno to not be weak and shove the attacker off him, goalies get away with everything while if a defender pulls him off it’s more likely to be a pen
Why does he not go to ground when he is being held? There are always excuses for Leno, but he does nothing to help himself. He wouldn’t have even come for that ball even if he wasn’t being held. How often to ball float across the edge of the 6-yard box and he retreats to his line when you’re thinking WTF are you doing LENO, Grab it or at least punch it clear. Now to make matters worse he has a small CB in front of him who is going to allow more of these troubling balls to be won… Read more »
Because he’s very good at
playing long balls“gaining progressive distance“. Forward, lads, forward.As Clough once said “if God wanted us to play football on grass, why did he create air?”
Was he high when he said this?😕
Pretty certain you have made a balks of that quote…..Clough was very anti long ball football
“Why are we buying a new ‘keeper?”……!!
Because, mate, if Leno picks up an injury all we’ve got is two very inexperienced goalkeepers (Hein and Okonkwo) and Plug from The Bash Street Kids.
That’s why.
So bringing our total transfer spend over 100m for a backup keeper?
when there were cheaper temporary signings.
what other club have two first choice(expensive) keepers.
Who gives a shit about the total spend, providing we get in lads who can do the job?
I bet you were one of those calling for either Leno or Martinez to be sold. For the record, I wasn’t; I could see quite clearly what sort of fucking mess we’d be in a year down the line. And we are.
You buy cheap, you buy twice. Never a truer word spoken, especially with this club.
Nope I wanted the club to force emi to stay tbh.
“we signed coutinho because he offers us options in goal as well as bolstering our attack” -edu, probably
“His agent also said, in return he’d help me out with my pension portfolio” – Edu’s inner thoughts, probably.
basically a negative spiral of gk decisions since they let szczezny [sp?] go on loan
edit: basically a negative spiral of decisions since about 2014 i suppose.
I’m lusting for the days that eboue at rb was our main problem
Please don’t lust over Eboue that’s a picture in my mind that cannot be unseen 🙈
Szczezney liked the odd ciggie. Arsene couldn’t let him be a bad example.
Well, though painful for fans, the Emi decision last summer was understandable, as he wanted to be no. 1, and Leno was much more experienced. Hindsight tells a different story, but not sure the blame is on them.
On Ramsdale I’m not entirely sold, but he did improve drastically last season after an awful start, which shows great strength of character, and is still just 23, so it could turn out to be a good signing after all. Time will tell.
Jokanovic is against selling him to Arsenal.
Practically all Arsenal fans are opposed to signing him.
As for £100 million – he would bite off the hand that handed him the cheque.
Ramsdale is not a good signing – but Edu and Arteta are experts at signing poor players or paying over the odds.
With Leno’s current form, Ramsdale might be an upgrade
Well I agree with you, if you mean an upgrade on mistakes and losing matches. Men AFC deserves better.
Why all the negativity around Ramsdale ? Let’s give him a chance and get behind him, he wants to play not like some of the other clowns that are there now. Yes Onana is good but we need a backup now not in Nov.
The issue is the 20-30 million fee for a back-up keeper. Unless Arteta’s plan is to demote Leno to #2.
Ramsdale will cost 25-30mn pounds. That not giving someone a chance, more like betting your house on them
Unfortunately the days of David Dein uncovering cheap gems are gone. KSE keep telling us they want to restore the club so let them spend some money not complain about it. The guy was in the England squad and is young so will have a sell on value. Which is what we should be doing rather than buying overpaid journeymen
There are two problems. First problem is: KSE never spends a dime. Everytime we “overpay”, they make a loan to us and our debt grows. The very purpose of them having bought Arsenal is because it was supposed to be a self-sustaining club, so they never lose any money (and Arsenal become even more indebted). Second problem is: why spend such a large sum on a keeper WORSE AND MORE EXPENSIVE THAN THE ONE WE HAD AT THE START OF LAST YEAR (keep that in mind) while we need a CM, a RB and a ST. It is mind boggling… Read more »
Yes they don’t spend a dime, nor will they as firstly they are business people and secondly they have no affection for the club. They have said they aren’t going anywhere and don’t need to sell. The only way to get them out will be an empty stadium which is difficult to do. However when they are in place )hopefully short term ) I want to see investment all be if it is financed by a bank. Why because if we don’t will will fall further into mid table mediocrity than we already are. Yes Gabi has been good and… Read more »
Honestly think this is the most glum I’ve felt about a transfer window in ages, and considering some of the business we’ve done in recent years, that’s saying something.
It’s made worse when you see other PL clubs making headline-grabbing, marquee signings (not suggesting that I want those players or believe the price tags are justified).
I get its a weird market, but it doesn’t feel like other teams are struggling as much.
I won’t be too hung up on the issues about the signings now. I know Lokonga and Tavares can grow into world class players. Ben White and Gabriel can form a formidable partnership for years to come. If Ramsdale and Ødegaard join, and we replace one of Auba/Laca with a younger striker, suddenly, a method to the current madness emerges. Arsenal fans must discount their expectations for this season – especially if Arteta and Edu are still in the saddle. But ultimately, we will need to change them both: Arteta, for example, is all smoke and no fire, I must… Read more »
Sergio Romero is a free agent having left Man United. Maybe worth a pursuit if the wages are reasonable.
He has the same agent at Tierney, Holding, Azeez (oh and Runarsson).
Experienced, almost 100 caps for Argentina, could have some benefit to Okwonko and Hein training with him.
Down side is that the guy has been very content sitting on the bench for past several years and might not push Leno at all.
That was not for want of trying. The last time Man U eliminated us from the FA or Carabao cup (I can’t tell which one right now), he pulled up some unbelievable saves. There was one from Ramsey’s header at point blank range.
There was another time De Gea was injured. Moreno gave a good account of himself, but was promptly benched immediately De Gea returned.
I don’t doubt his abilities. it’s just that he has played just 7 EPL games in 6 seasons with United and as far as I know he has not made any attempt to leave even after being made third choice
I am also against Jokanovic selling Ramsdale to us, if that helps.
I honestly hate the way this club is run – owners, coach/manager, football director, CEO, all of them are fucking incompetent. How can we be lurching from one disasterous decision to the next!? Are they actually trying to destroy the club. There are so few redeeming qualities at Arsenal right now, I am having a lot of internal conflict as to why I bother… Are we seriously trying to sign Ramsdale for >30M quid? Of course we are, we just resigned Xhaka for 4 years and sold Willock. Of course we fucking are #KroenkeOut #ArtetaOut #EduOut #VinaiOut Just get these… Read more »
What irritates me is apparently Arteta being frustrated that we didn’t hand over 35m to Chelsea for Abraham, ffs, he’s in his own little world. Wish someone could talk him through how shit his tactics are.
Don’t forget if you’ve got any grievances, you can send complaints over to feedback@arsenal.co.uk
Agree with you on all bar Willock. I think that will turn out good business. Time will prove to us there. The rest i whole heartedly agree. I would add Ben white who played in back 3/5 may also turn out a disaster. We will probably play back 5 against Chelsea and city and he look exceptional. Revert back to back four and he will exposed time and again. Not good enough in the air. To small.
Speaking of intentions. Sometimes the tin-foil part of my mind does wonder if the playing and backroom and playing staff we’ve brought on from rival clubs are conspiring to bring this club down😈. Like… Did Cech intentionally let that goal in at his near post in Baku? Did Luiz intentionally get sent-off at Stamford Bridge? Is Willian downing tools because he loves Chelsea so much? Is Stuivenberg coaching crab football so we never catch up to United? Was Don Raul trying to make sure we go down with Barca? Of, course, then I remember Sol Campbell and get back into… Read more »
I get the frustration Daveo but all the credible sources are saying we’re not paying >30M and that’s why they walked away from the deal last week
Ok so it’s only making Xhaka stand in captain (after his temper tantrum and armband toss), giving Xhaka a 3-year contract (after his flirtations with Roma all-summer), selling our own home-grown goal scoring midfield (in a term which cannot score), signing an inexperienced small CB at a massive overpay when our defense is strong and we need goals, letting a proven goal-scorer and creator (and genuine target – strong reported interest over multiple season; Buendia) because Edu and Arteta we’re ready, pushing to establish and be a founding member of the “Euro Super League”, not playing a striker in the… Read more »
Emi for Leno then Leno downing tools.
having 6 centerbacks on the books.
signing runarsson.
having no lb backup so rely on an injury recovering tierney.
Oh and of course:
I need to stop…
We just extended Xhaka’s contract by one year with a clause, so it shouldn’t lead to a big pay-rise, and it’s a bit pointless to judge White after 1 bad game. And everyone was craving Auba’s contract extension at the time.
We also bought some very decent young players (Tierney Martinelli Lokonga?), and recently extended most of our young talents.
Not saying everything is fine, most of your list is still spot on, but I would say that the current team is kinda ‘less bad’ than the one before.
I don’t think the improvements outweigh the deterioration.
considering we’re improving things that needed it at least a season ago. We’re two steps behind but only catching up one.
Deciding we don’t need a Number 10 in the squad then going several hours without a goal from open play?
This.
I watched him a few times at Bournemouth when he was there. He’s a very, very good keeper so wouldn’t write him off as shit. I’d be happy if he came to the Arsenal.
Think the issue is money and that Edu would rather keep it and use it to buy Xhaka off in a year’s time and then spunk the rest on whichever latest Chelsea player has reached retirement age.
Leno, ozil, auba, niles, saliba, willock, guendouzi…. The list of players rapidly declining or being deemed unfit 4 arsenal seems to be growing. I’m persuaded 2 think that we have a management problem and not a personnel issue. We would still be fucked if we signed galacticos 4 every position
N since money doesn’t seem 2 b a problem judging by how edu n co r spending it, I think we should target conte, just 4 the instant gratification of winning something in the near future. In over 2 years of arteta management, nobody knows what arteta’s style of football is
Looks like the Jokanovic is on us.
You know what, I’m all for this one. Leno has had some good times, some bad times, but either way he wants out. There aren’t many keepers with Ramsdale’s experience at his age, and the people who actually watch Sheffield games seem to rate him really highly. If he’s coming in to compete with/replace Leno, then £30m is reasonable speculation on a player unlikely to lose much value. TBH, I don’t really have a problem with ANY of the names we’ve signed or are being linked with, be that White, Maddison, Odegaard, Sambi, Abraham, or any of the others… it’s… Read more »
Thank you for some common sense. And we also have to remember it’s one of the worst times ever to get rid of deadwood at a reasonable price.
Not your main point but didn’t he want Willian? He spoke very positively about the signing.
Ha. Sounds about right given what we panic paid for Runarsson.
He sounds expensive. Why not go for other keepers?,sebastian frey? U still there?,
Throw Kalou in, and maybe we could do a swap?
On a serious note – is there anyone that is actually excited / hopeful of this signing or even our season?
We could literally be out of the title race by end of September. Not being negative, but that is the reality of this situation.
I don’t think I’ve ever been so utterly bored of Arsenal. Sambi was a good signing, and Nuno Tavares, but every single player linked since then has been overpriced boring rubbish, and yes, that includes Ben bloody White. Started last season with Partey, couldn’t negotiate anything so payed the release clause and quadrupled his stupid salary, wtf, and he’s hardly ever played. The football is boring, the whole thing is boring, I hate this season already.
Likewise – even if we do sign odegard, still not excited.
I know other comments have scoffed at my comment ‘The title race’ but to be out of it by September, angers me. We are one of the richest clubs in the world, FFS.
Out of the 20 richest clubs, we are the only ones not in Europe – embarrassing!!
The title race? 😂
Title race….LOL
Some of the players we are strongly linked to are ridiculous – maddison is great for Leicester but, like Neil Webb at Nottingham Forest, he will be a shadow of the player!! Why, because he suits their style but not ours, not that ours is great currently, but would maddison have fitted into a high flying Wenger side? No, but Saka would!! I know we are out of Europe but we have a history and potential project we could sell to quality players and get them on board!!! At the moment we couldn’t sell ice to an Eskimo!!! So I… Read more »
Oh on a side note, could we shoehorn white into the right back position?
Bournemouth have just signed Orjan Nyland on free. This deal could have some merit.
If so, I hope the figure isn’t as high as mooted in the press, but again, you pay the English premium when buying HG players. Think Ramsdale could come good, and if not, he should have some decent sell-on value still. This isn’t a deal that worries me.
There’s a lot of noise, but if you dig into the nuance of the stats on Ramsdale, he’s got great positioning, reflexes and is very comfortable on the ball. This is exactly the profile Arsenal are targeting. Similar style of signing as White. Focus is clearly on players that can play football proactively as that’s what you need to compete at the top. Obvs horses for courses, but Ramsdale would be a better GK than Emi or Leno for the type of football we need to play.
I have to confess I didn’t take much notice of Ramsdale though I watched most of SHU matches I am not sure why i just have that same feeling that I had when I heard Wenger wanted to pay £92m for Thomas Lemar it was one of the few times when I went on my knees and prayed for the club luckily the Lord heard my prayers!…..most fans would pray that signings go through but hey this is arsenal I would rather get a decent loan signing for a year than spend £40m on Ramsdale personally I don’t believe he’s… Read more »
110m plus Willian?
Sadly I am warming to Ramsdale after watch Leno’s recent form. It just shows how Arsenal have lowered my expectations over the years.
Right now I’d just be happy to see some entertaining football, whatever the league position!
Curious: What happened with Ryan? Why did we not make the loan permanent? I don’t think he was a bad back-up keeper.
To me it feels like this upgrade on Leno (if that is what this is) shouldn’t be our main concern.
At this point he’d start ahead of Leno.