Arsenal's decision to sign Aaron Ramsdale certainly raised a few eyebrows from supporters and the media alike. Part of six new arrivals at the Emirates Stadium last summer, the England international was signing number five after Nuno Tavares, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Benjamin White and Martin Odegaard.
The deal is said to have cost the Gunners an initial fee of £24m, but there was a backlash from supporters towards the goalkeeper on social media after the move was completed - prompting Ramsdale to turn his notifications off.
"I saw the backlash," he admitted. "That’s when I made the decision to turn comments off, notifications off for people I don’t follow on Instagram and Twitter. People can tag me but I won’t see it, so it won’t come up on my feed... when people were saying I was getting a lot of stick and abuse, I said, ‘Am I?’
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"I didn't really know and I didn’t really care because, yes, I've been relegated twice but the way I looked at it was two years of completely different experiences to other people at 23. It’s me and ten other people on the pitch."
As touched on by Ramsdale, much of the fan backlash stemmed from his rather unfortunate - and in truth quite alarming - relegation record after suffering back-to-back disappointments in the Premier League with Bournemouth and Sheffield United. Interestingly, there was talk of a surprise third relegation with Arsenal propping up the table after the opening three games.
Whilst the Gunners did start the season poorly, they have since recovered to rectify the situation and are in contention to seal a top-four finish despite recent losses against Crystal Palace and Brighton. One reason for their transformation has been the 23-year-old coming into the side following the first international break of the campaign.
After replacing Bernd Leno as Arsenal's first-choice in between the sticks, Ramsdale didn't taste defeat for eight games, keeping five clean sheets during that period and his form not only saw him emerge as a fan favourite but he was rewarded with a senior England debut back in November.
And there has been more good news for Ramsdale in recent weeks; a third successive relegation is no longer possible. This actually occurred prior to the Gunners losing to Palace last Monday as Manchester City's win over Burnley at the beginning of the month made it mathematically impossible for Arsenal to go down this season.
No player would want three successive Premier League relegations on their CV and after avoiding this feat Ramsdale has set his sights on getting the Gunners back on track against Southampton at the weekend following the Brighton defeat that saw them lose ground on Tottenham in the top-four race.
"This was supposed to be the reaction game but it wasn't," he said. "We've lost and not managed to pick up any points and next week is even bigger. I think we just need to go out there and be free and play our game, you know? It's a game of football and I think in the first half we were very tense and slow so we just need to go out there next week, trust what the manager and the coaching staff are saying and go and play our football, which we've done all season."
