Gary Neville has once again spoken about Mikel Arteta’s choice to sign David Raya and says he has always questioned when a club have had two proper quality goalkeepers.
The north Londoners saw Matt Turner leave for Nottingham Forest earlier this month and the American’s departure created room for a new backup keeper.
But rather than sign a ‘lesser’ quality goalkeeper to act as cover for Aaron Ramsdale, the Gunners brought in Brentford star Raya to compete for the number one jersey.
Neville is not convinced that was a well-made decision and feels the goalkeeper position is one area on the pitch where the competition doesn’t have to be too intense.
Raya and Ramsdale could cause problems for Arsenal, says Neville
Asked if Raya’s arrival could ultimately become problematic for Arsenal, Neville said on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football: “Yes. I’ve said this before, I’m not a fan of competition for goalkeepers.”
“I think you need a clear number one and then a clear number two, that’s my view.”
“I’ve had experiences at Manchester United where we’ve had clear number ones and number twos and then where we’ve had in some situations two equal-ish goalkeepers.”
“The problem is you have a situation where every time a goalkeeper makes a mistake – which they inevitably do – you then end up asking will he then play the next guy the next week.”
“Once you do that once, you’ve undermined the situation and created what I think is sometimes a very difficult situation for everybody in the team.”
“You haven’t got stability with your back four, both goalkeepers feel a little bit unnerved and anxious that if they make a mistake they’re out.”
He continued: “So I’m interested to see what Mikel Arteta does with it and how he manages it, because I’ve never seen it work really well before.”
Before Arsenal’s 1-0 win over Crystal Palace, Neville asked Arteta if having two top keepers could be a problem, to which the Gunners’ manager responded: “I don’t know – hopefully! If that’s the case then it’s good for the team.”
“We had a situation with Matt [Turner]. Matt had an offer, he wanted to go, he wanted to play and we had to replace him.”
“So we wanted to replace him with the best possible option and the best out there was David and we’re really pleased to have him.”
Arsenal will next take on Fulham in the Premier League at the weekend.
