When we signed Ramsdale, my immediate impression was that he was an improvement on Leno, broadly speaking, but perhaps not enough of an improvement: that is, much as Leno was believed, when we signed him, to be an improvement on Cech, especially with respect to distribution, but not enough.

Arteta and Inaki surely believed they could improve him, and get him into that Ederson/Alisson tier; I don’t think anyone would agree they’ve yet succeeded. The question was always whether they felt his potential and his progress relative to that potential justified continuing that process. (This of course ignores the first class arr slash Gunners lunatic conspiracy theory that Inaki is deliberately sabotaging Ramsdale and all our other keepers to ‘get his guy’ Raya in.)

Looking at where he is now, in relation to other clubs (but irrespective of their current keeper situations) it’s probably a question of level and stylistic fit. Ramsdale could be a very good fit for clubs like Burnley or Bournemouth, but I don’t know that his shot stopping or command is good enough to help them do more than stay afloat. At Brighton or (amusingly) Brentford, in the midtable, he’d be a good fit and a lot less exposed.

You’re probably right that he’d improve Howe’s Saudcastle; I wonder about Unai’s Villa though. I suspect he’d have a disastrous time at Tottenham and Trafford.

In a curious way, I think we’ve been both a very good fit for him, and possibly not the best fit as a place to grow. He has improved, but, ot my mind, plateaued; that can happen when a player who needs to grow gets stuck trying to perform, week in and week out. I tend to take Arteta at face value when he said he wanted to keep both: that he believed playing less might, if Ramsdale was mentally equal to that challenge, have allowed him to push through with his development, and given him a real partner to push against in Raya. Possibly that is happening behind the scenes, but his dad would seem to be suggesting, at the very least, that there’s friction of a less than ideal sort.