Arteta SLAMMED for shocking treatment of Arsenal star

Carlo Garganese

• Updated: 14 Apr 2024 12:32 BST
• 3 min read

Mikel Arteta has been slammed by former Arsenal and Manchester United striker Andy Cole for his mistreatment of Aaron Ramsdale this season.

Ramsdale had performed admirably as Arsenal number one as they went close to winning the Premier League title last season.

However, he lost his place in the first team when Arteta decided to sign David Raya from from Brentford on loan last summer with an obligation to buy.

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Arteta believed that Raya would be an improvement on Ramsdale, especially in his distribution and construction from the back.

Raya has largely been a disappointment, making a string of errors and largely looking nervy after displacing Ramsdale as first choice - especially in the first half of the campaign.

And Cole - who was a young player at Arsenal early in his career - has slammed Arteta as he backs Ramsdale to join Newcastle, who are interested in signing the goalkeeper this summer.

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What did Cole say?

“Nine times out of ten, when a player moves to a different club, they’re meant to be their new club’s number one centre-forward, centre-half, goalkeeper or whatever it may be,” Cole told the Daily Mirror.

“If Aaron makes the move, he will be Newcastle’s number one goalkeeper.”

It appears that Arsenal will look to sell Ramsdale this summer but Cole isn’t happy with how Arteta has treated the goalkeeper, and believes he didn’t deserve to be replaced by Raya.

“I think [Ramsdale] has been hard done by, I really do,” Cole added.

“He was so good for Arsenal last season and then all of a sudden, Mikel Arteta has gone out and got a new goalkeeper and initially claimed that he had two number ones, which was complete nonsense from day one.

“The way he’s disregarded Ramsdale has been really disrespectful. He’s mugged him off basically.

“I like how he goes about his business and he deserves to be treated with a bit more respect, so if he does move on from Arsenal, then he certainly would do a good job at Newcastle.”

Newcastle have made the signing of a new goalkeeper one of their priorities in the summer transfer window.

Arsenal are likely to sanction a sale of Ramsdale, as Raya’s loan move from Brentford will be made permanent for a fee of around €31 million.