Aaron Ramsdale's furious rant at Arsenal team-mate speaks volumes ahead of transfer exit

Wolves have set their sights on Arsenal’s goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale, having witnessed his fiery passion during a 2022 match at Molineux.

Ramsdale, 26, has become the target of an offer from Gary O’Neil’s team after falling behind David Raya in the North London club’s hierarchy. The proposed deal would initially be a loan, with the option to make it permanent in the summer – a similar arrangement to that which saw Arsenal sign Raya from Brentford.

The Spanish keeper joined Arsenal early in the 2023-24 season, taking over from Ramsdale who had started the campaign as first choice. Despite being the preferred choice the previous year and keeping a clean sheet against Wolves in November 2022, Ramsdale found himself sidelined as Mikel Arteta’s team entered the World Cup break leading the table.

In the 2-0 victory against Wolves, Martin Odegaard scored both goals for Arsenal. However, Ramsdale was seen giving his teammate Oleksandr Zinchenko a piece of his mind as they sought to maintain their lead.

This public display of passion echoed Ramsdale’s animated reaction to a loss at Everton, captured in the Amazon Prime ‘All or Nothing’ documentary about Arsenal. The late defeat at Goodison Park during the 2021-22 season proved detrimental to their top-four aspirations.

“That’s f****** embarrassing! ” Ramsdale was heard exclaiming in a viral clip from their Amazon documentary. “Every f****** game, so f****** naive,” he added.

Arsenal’s impressive run of four consecutive wins, featuring a stellar defensive record with just one goal conceded, was abruptly halted by a crucial defeat at Tottenham, ultimately costing them a top-four finish.

Despite limited game time last season, Ramsdale still earned himself a spot in England’s Euro 2024 squad, although he played second fiddle to Jordan Pickford in Germany. He also observed from the bench as the Gunners triumphed over Wolves at the Emirates for a victorious start to their campaign.

Raya’s fantastic save to thwart Jorgen Strand Larsen drew praise from Arteta who exclaimed, “Unbelievable!” He further commented: “I think it was the first time they had any attempt. We didn’t defend the box well and then David makes an unbelievable save.”

Over the weekend, Zinchenko was chosen to start at left-back despite Jurrien Timber’s return from injury and Riccardo Calafiori being available following his transfer from Bologna. Nevertheless, Arteta emphasised that his defensive line-up decisions are assessed on a “game by game” basis.

“You could see that Alex [Zinchenko], especially in the first half, was really good,” Arteta noted. “In the second half, we needed [something] else and we had the ability to change there.”