Arsenal should look towards alternative former keeper to replace Aaron Ramsdale

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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

Manchester City right to issue cease and desist letters

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Luckily for She Wore, I have a legal background so when we set up the blog I was already upskilled on what we can and can not write. Unfortunately, it seems like other platforms have not learned over the years about what content they are allowed to publish without fear of reprisals.

It was no surprise to me that Manchester City have issued numerous blogs with cease and desist letters in the last few weeks.

For those unaware on UK law, a cease and desist letter is used to stop alleged or actual infringements, such as copyright, trademark or libel. They are often used by bigger companies against “smaller” companies or individuals as an initial warning.

Their aim is to encourage the receiver to halt their activities without the need of costly (to both sides) more formal legal action. If the receiver does not halt their activities, the fact that they received the letter will be frowned upon in court as they were fully aware what they were doing might infringe copyright or be libellous.

The letters from Manchester City would have by sent out to inform the receivers of potential libellous comments.

In the UK, you are innocent until proven guilty. If you accuse someone in public of being something (such as a nonce), and they decide to take you to court of the comments, you then have to prove that your statement was correct. Impossible if it was untrue.

Thousands on Twitter make libellous comments everyday, not realising that they are potentially opening themselves up to civil proceedings. Former actor turns activist Lawrence Fox was recently told to pay £180,000 in libel damages following comments on the social media platform.

To put it simply, you can not say or write things that are untrue and might damage another reputation without infringing defamation law (the law that libel (writing) and slander (spoken) sit within).

Most of us get away with making these comments all day long because we are insignificant. A 17-year-old with 367 followers is not worth going after from these company’s point of view. The amount it will cost them to find out who the individual is, their address, issue the letter and so on just is not worth it.

But when you get big enough, with huge influence (or in terms of copywrite make big sales / have a product go viral), you will quickly end up on the radar of big businesses or individuals willing to pursue the matter.

AFTV, for example, were pressured to remove “Arsenal” from their name due to the damage they were doing to the club’s name. Many other clubs use Arsenal within their blog names, but they are deemed either not big enough, or not damaging enough to the club, for them to act.

The United Stand (TUS) are the highest profile company that have allegedly received a cease and desist letter from Manchester City with regards to their 115 charges.

TUS are basically Man U’s version of AFTV – like Robbie Lyle, Brent Di Cesare (AKA Mark Goldbridge), was not a boyhood fan of the club he talked about, and instead spotted an opportunity to make himself a lot of money. The former police officer then created a platform of hate and ridicule to profit from Man U’s demise. And for those wondering, this is not libellous. It is factual.

And that is the thing with libel. You are allowed to write the facts. And Manchester City’s cease and desist letter does not stop people talking about the case.

You will always notice that mainstream media outlets always have a different commentary to blogs and vlogs. They are more formal and do not speculate. That is because these institutions are aware of what they can and can not say, and that you can only report the facts that have been made public and are verified.

The simplest example of libellous comments made against City is calling them “cheats”.

As it stands, they are not cheats. They are innocent until proven guilty remember. They have been charged, but it has not yet been proven they have done anything wrong. So anyone that calls them a cheat right now would be making a libellous comment unless they can prove that City did cheat.

As the Premier League are currently trying to build a case to prove that City cheated, I would be highly surprised if any individual can defend their comments. They will be reliant on the Premier League winning their case which will be the concrete proof needed to label City cheats.

If City successfully defend the accusations leveled against them, we might see them step up their legal action against the likes of TUS, if they decide to continue with their comments.

Labelling a football club (or any sporting individual) a cheat is cleary damaging to reputation. This will be a lesson to those online that you can not just say anything you want without fear of repercussions. Stick to the facts and follow the law (and we have not even got onto injunctions yet).

A few City fans have said things like “the media have changed their tune” since the letters allegedly went out. This is incorrect. The media always acted within the law.

A quick Google of “Manchester City Cheats” shows that no media outlet ever accused them of cheating. They all merely said they had been charged, and what they have been charged with.

Whenever they spoke about Manchester City and “cheating” they always quoted another party such as Stan Collymore. This is not them calling Man City cheats, but them quoting an individual and reporting what that individual said. Still sticking to the facts!

Big fish often do not like strong-arming the little guy. It is bad and also frowned upon in court. That is why they will send a cease and desist letter first rather than going straight for legal action, so that in court they can at least say “we warned you”. It takes away the chance of the little guy presenting themselves as a victim.

Back in 2022, Manchester City sent a cease and desist letter to a 3rd division Chilean club over similarities to their badge.

For transparency, a company I am involved in (not SheWore.com), received a cease and desist letter from the club over the use of Mikel Arteta’s “Transparency, Energy, Clarity” drawing on t-shirts.

We went viral very quickly and were selling 1 a minute at one point. Within a week the club had sent us a letter asking us to stop selling the product. We complied but were also frustrated that others were still selling (and continue to do so). It is an example of how the clubs can not go after anyone, but will go after those who are bigger, or have gone viral.

Some will try and label all this as bullying, and claim Manchester City are trying to change the narrative. The truth is, you can not say anything that damages another reputation unless you can prove it is true. And those labelling City “cheats” can not prove that is is true.

Have a great Tuesday.

Keenos

Arsenal take title challenge to last week of the season

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For close to a decade under Arsene Wenger, and then under Unai Emery, all most of asked was for us to be challenging for the title at the business end of the season.

Our victory against Bournemouth means that we are taking our title challenge to the last week of the season. We can not demand much more than that.

Early season questions surrounding whether we could back up last season remarkable breakthrough have been put to bed. With 2 games to go, we have 1-point less than 2022/23 scored the same amount of goals and conceded 15 less. Mikel Arteta has proved himself to be a top, top manager.

But all of this could be for nothing. The title is in Manchester City’s hands and I can not see them getting into any trouble in their last 3 games.

For us, the equation is simple. Beat Manchester United at Old Trafford and we take our title challenge to the last game. Lose and City could clinch the title with a game to go against Tottenham.

If we finish 2nd, the usual suspects will be looking to blame someone. Those that listen to far too much TalkSport will jump straight on the “Arsenal bottled it again” bandwagon. Finishing 2nd to Manchester City is not bottling it.

If we win our final two games, our 2024 form will read: P18 W16 D1 L1. That is title winning form, not the form of a team that bottle it towards the end.

It is incredible that we could put that run together and still finish second. But then you look at City.

If Man City win their final 3 games, they would have gone on a 23-game unbeaten run, winning 19 and drawing 4. That truly is incredible form for 60% of the season. And we should be proud that we have been able to keep up with their pace.

Yes, we did start a slower this compared to last. But we were holding back a little to ensure we were still at 100% come the last 10 games. And that is exactly what have happened.

For decades, top teams such as Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City have done “just enough” in the opening 15 games of the season to get wins and keep up with the league leaders. As Christmas comes and goes, they then find an extra gear. That is where we now are.

Had we started stronger, there is no guarantee we would have been able to keep it going. Evidence 1: Arsenal last season. Evidence 2: Liverpool this season.

Come the beginning of February, Liverpool were 5 points clear of both ManchesterCity and Arsenal. At the time of writing (on a sunny Sunday morning), they are 8 points behind us and 7 behind City. They are out of the title race, could well be out of the race for the top 2 by the time this is published, and have fallen away.

I would not say Liverpool have bottled it. They have just ran out of steam like Arsenal did last season. Manchester City have created a league that you can not afford to lose even once in the last 18 games of the season if you want to be champions. That leads to huge physical and mental fatigue to those teams who do not have their resources.

This time next week we will know whether we are going to be taking our season to the last game of the season, or whether we have gifted Tottenham fans the opportunity to celebrate a league title at their ground. And I am sure Spurs fans will be delirious watching City lift the title at White Hart Lane.

As always, we just need to focus on ourselves. City play again before our next game. We could be facing Man U in second place, or playing them with the title being back in our hands.

Enjoy the rest of your Bank Holiday weekend.

Keenos