Aaron Ramsdale broke down in tears when he went back to the Emirates for the first time since leaving this summer.
The English custodian left Arsenal on deadline day for Southampton in a £25 million deal that will last for four years.
When the Saints played Mikel Arteta’s team in North London, Ramsdale got a warm welcome from Arsenal fans, which made him look very emotional.
Before the game, the Emirates was less than half full, and all of the home fans cheered for Ramsdale during the warm-ups.
The custodian couldn’t hold back his tears as he walked towards the hallway before the game.
Ramsdale was seen wiping his eyes with his gloves after being praised and chanted at by many people.
The 26-year-old then gave the crowd a thumbs-up and a wink.
In the first half, Ramsdale made several great stops. Cameron Archer’s low finish in the 55th minute put Arsenal down 1-0, but they came back to win 3-1 in the 97th minute.
He played 89 times for Arsenal, but he left to get more playing time because he was behind David Raya in the team’s rankings.
At the beginning of last season, he lost his spot to Raya, who was on loan at the time. This broke his heart, as did that of his family, especially his dad.
The choice Arteta made seemed harsh, since Ramsdale hadn’t done anything wrong in their first season of title charging in 2022–23.
Any way you look at it, Raya made the right choice because the former Spanish player has become one of the best in the game.
Ramsdale only played in six Premier League games last year, but he has been a constant for the Saints this season.
Ramsdale said he moved to the south coast because he didn’t want to “win trophies if I was sitting on the bench.”
“If I was sitting on the bench, it [winning a trophy] wouldn’t have meant that much to me,” he told the BBC’s Football Focus show.
My only goal was to play football. My childhood dream was to play football and not just watch it.
It was the ninth time in Premier League history that a custodian played against Arsenal after having played for them in the same league.
Emiliano Martinez kept a clean sheet in his first game against Arsenal, which Aston Villa beat 3-0 at the Emirates in November 2020. He was the only one of the previous eight to do so.