Over the weekend, news broke that the club were in talks with former keeper Wojciech Szczesny as a replacement for Aaron Ramsdale.

The 35-year-old Juventus number one is on our shortlist to be back-up to David Raya. But I think there is also another former Arsenal keeper we need to be looking at (and no, it is not Lukasz Fabianski).

I have spent quite a bit of time researching who will replace Aaron Ramsdale as Arsenal’s number 2 (like it or not, David Raya is coming in, and Ramsdale will have to leave if he wants first team football).

Alvaro Valles would be top of my list. But the feeling is he wants to remain as a number one and continue to push for the Spain squad. Many pundits in Spain believe he will be a Barcelona player next season.

Throughout my research, one name kept popping up as fulfilling my criteria on a number 2. That criteria is:

• Proven number one in a top league
• Cheap
• Good with the ball at his feet
• Likely to be happy being 2nd choice at a Champions League club

That one name that kept popping up was former Arsenal loanee Mat Ryan.

Ryan is currently plying his trade in Holland where he is AZ Alkmaar’s number one. The Dutch team site 4th in the Eredivisie. Having also been number one for Brighton for 3 years in the Premier League, he fulfils that criteria as being proven as a number one in a top league.

You do not play 460 games in top leagues across Europe (and a little Australia), if you are not a decent keeper. Ryan is also closing in on 100 caps for Australia.

Ryan has only been with AZ Alkmaar a season and a half, having joined them in January 2023. He signed an 18-month contract which expires this summer. Not only would Ryan be cheap, he would be free!

Nine years ago, as Ryan was making his name in Europe, a scouting report in The Guardian labelled him a “the Socceroos’ ball-playing goalkeeper with the world at his feet”.

Ryan himself has said in the past that he is inspired by Manuel Neuer, saying “We are a similar style, we’re comfortable with the ball at our feet. We play a high sweeping role there at the back to help out the defence.”

In his own words, Ryan has described exactly what Mikel Arteta demands of a keeper. And having played a lot for Brighton, he has proved that he has the composure to be a ball-playing keeper in the Premier League.

The only question mark is whether he wants to be a number 2.

In 2022 Ryan joined Copenhagen but left after 6-months for AZ due to a lack of playing time. This would maybe point to someone that still wants to play regular first team football, which would rule him out of a move to the Arsenal.

But then there is a huge difference between being second choice at Copenhagen and second choice at a team like Arsenal. At 32-years-old, I am sure he would jump at the chance to spend the last 3 or 4 years of his career living in London, being cover for David Raya.

Arteta would have got a close up view of Ryan when he joined us on loan for the second half of the 2020/21 season. Ryan joined late in January 2021 as it had become clear that Rúnar Alex Rúnarsson was not up to it. Ryan would play 3 times in the Premier League covering for Bernd Leno.

In 2021, Arsenal would decide not to sign Ryan permanently and Ramsdale would be signed instead as new number one. I am fairly certain had we not signed Ramsdale, Leno would have been first choice and Ryan signed as his back up.

It would close the circle nicely if Ramsdale departed this summer and Ryan came in as 2nd choice.

Yes, Mat Ryan might not be the most exciting signing in the world, but he fulfils my criteria of a number 2. And being free means that more money is then available to make more exciting signings elsewhere.

Enjoy your Tuesday!

Keenos

Just some of our Arsenal beach towel collection!https://t.co/G1EP4yvpZ6 pic.twitter.com/pD6EVrlExx

— Kick Off Merchants (@KOMerchants) April 30, 2024