LEGENDARY Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has slammed current boss Mikel Arteta for his treatment of keeper Aaron Ramsdale.
Arteta, 41, brought Spaniard Raya in on loan from Brentford in the summer despite Ramsdale impressing last season.
Arsene Wenger is not on board with how Mikel Arteta has managed his keepers
Arteta has claimed he will swap keepers during the season
And after Ramsdale started the campaign in between the sticks, Raya has lined up for Arsenal in each of their last six Premier League games.
He has, however, started to display some weaknesses. During the Gunners’ 2-2 draw with Chelsea earlier this month, he made a critical mistake that allowed Mykhailo Mudryk to lob him.
Wenger, who managed Arsenal for 22 years from 1996 to 2018, believes Arteta ought to have stayed with Ramsdale.
Speaking on beIN Sports, he said: “Personally, I like Ramsdale. If I was in his position I would not give up.
“I believe he has the chance to come back into the team.”
When asked whether he believes Ramsdale to be the better keeper, he added: “Better… better… I don’t know if he’s better. I just think Ramsdale has made decisive saves in the games last season.
“They were not happy maybe with his feet, his distribution.”
Wenger was then quizzed as to which one of shot-stopping or distribution is the key to a good keeper.’
Aaron Ramsdale and David Raya are both vying for Arsenal’s No1 spot
To which he replied: “To stop balls going in the back of the net.
“You know, on the other hand, when you’re in this position, you always – it happened to me as well many times – you have a good team but you want to improve the team.
“And then you look and think, ‘what can I improve there?’ You think maybe the distribution from the back.
“It happened to me the same with the centre backs, you want a guy who has better distribution from the back but then you realise he is less good defensively and his first job is to defend.”
And Wenger finished by explaining why he always had a clear first-choice keeper.
He said: “That’s my belief, I don’t believe in rotation with goalkeepers.
“I don’t believe in a lack of clarity of the hierarchy with goalkeepers. That doesn’t work.”