Ramsdale linked with United ahead of transfer window
NEWCASTLE United are being heavily linked with England goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale ahead of the summer transfer window.
Ramsdale to United is far from a new transfer tale but remains one that makes a lot of sense given the back story behind both the Arsenal goalkeeper and Eddie Howe.
The Chronicle asked the United boss directly about the prospect of signing Ramsdale back in December when he refused to shut the door on the story.
Back then, Howe said: “Whether we are potentially looking or not, I’d say all options are available to us.”
So it was far from a denial, which Howe will roll out on certain targets, like he did with Kalvin Phillips and Scott McTominay.
The reality is Newcastle are going to be looking for a new keeper this summer with Loris Karius essentially declaring he will leave at the end of his contract.
At 35, Martin Dubravka is in the autumn of his career as a goalkeeper and is heading towards the last 12 months of his current deal.
Ideally, Howe would love two top-class goalkeepers to choose from and potentially even rotate if Newcastle do make it into either the Europa League or Europa Conference League.
Right now, Ramsdale needs a bit of love and some familiarity around him, and Howe and his backroom team would offer him exactly that.
At £30m it could be argued that a goalkeeper is not the priority but it would be still be a quality addition to the squad.
Newcastle’s assistant head of scouting Andy Howe was the man who put in the hard yards scouting Ramsdale when Bournemouth signed him from Sheffield United. Andy Howe said in 2021: “We had him on the list of goalkeepers within that age category but we hadn’t seen him before and after that first viewing, I was instantly drawn to wanting to see more of him. He ticked the attributes technically and he had the confidence to play out from the back, which was key.”
Ramsdale has always spoken of how “grateful” he is to Newcastle’s current head coach despite leaving the Cherries in 2020 after relegation.
He ended up back at Sheffield United in an £18.5m move, where Howe had plucked him from in 2017 before crucial loan spells at Chesterfield and Wimbledon, and then on to Arsenal.
It’s turned sour for Ramsdale at Arsenal after he was dislodged by David Raya but a summer move can’t be discounted. At 25, Newcastle will see him at a good age to come to St James’ Park and re-establish himself gradually with Nick Pope still a good choice as number 1 in Premier League games.
Newcastle do expect Pope to play again this season with Eddie Howe hoping he plays some part in the Premier League run-in.
The goalkeeper has been recovering from a shoulder injury and has been back in training but continues to push towards his goal of being back between the posts this month.
Dubravka struggled through the closing stages of the 4-3 win over West Ham, but Karius has always been deemed an able deputy.
Dubravka had to get Fabian Schar to take the last few goal kicks in the the victory over the Hammers and went down in exhaustion at the final whistle on Saturday.