Mikel Arteta has already answered Gary Neville’s ‘problem’ Arsenal claim

Mikel Arteta has already answered Gary Neville’s concern over the goalkeeping situation at Arsenal. Much has been made of Arteta’s decision to sign David Raya during the summer transfer window.

Aaron Ramsdale enjoyed a solid season for the Gunners last term, but it wasn’t enough to prevent Arteta from going out to sign Raya to increase competition. Just weeks after that decision was made, Raya replaced Ramsdale as number one, but the Spaniard hasn’t taken the role in his stride.

Raya has made errors in his early performances, most recently getting lobbed by a mis-hit Mykhaylo Mudryk cross over the weekend, and there are now calls for Ramsdale to come back in.

Meanwhile, there are also concerns about the impact the potential competition is having on the squad as a whole, with Gary Neville saying on Sky Sports: “I do feel there’s a problem brewing here where Ramsdale is going to start knocking on the door saying, ‘get me back in’ and if [Arteta] doesn’t, he’s going to ask to leave.

“So even though it looks like there’s competition for places in the goalkeeping positon, it won’t last long this. The maximum this will last is a season because the goalkeeper who is not playing or is feeling hard done to will leave.”

Meanwhile, Arteta has fielded questions over the issue, and he has assured that all is well in a ‘fair’ competition between his two stoppers. “I haven’t seen that. If I am fair, I haven’t seen that at all,” he said in his Champions League press conference on Monday.

“That’s the pressure of playing in big clubs where you have to win and you have to be at your best, and you have someone next to you who is pushing you every single day. If we go player by player, position by position, you will tell me what’s happening at left-back, what happens with the holding-midfielder.

“You asked Jorginho a question already and Gabriel Jesus is here, there’s another question on that. That’s the debate. That’s the beauty of the game as well. The fact that you have other options as well is going to make those talks more frequent.”