Newcastle United are unlikely to sign Aaron Ramsdale permanently despite his recent run in the starting lineup, meaning Arsenal will miss out on sell-on money for now.
Aaron Ramsdale has found himself in the starting lineup for Newcastle United lately, with Eddie Howe choosing to drop Nick Pope.
The former Arsenal goalkeeper has now appeared in all four of Newcastle’s matches in March, and fact made even more significant by the fact the opponents were Manchester United, Manchester City, FC Barcelona, and Chelsea.
Other than the City defeat, the other three games have gone pretty well, with Newcastle winning against United and Chelsea and drawing 1-1 with Barcelona thanks to a late Lamine Yamal penalty. Yet it seems the plan is still to let Ramsdale leave upon the expiry of his loan from Southampton.
Chris Waugh reported for The Athletic this month that despite Ramsdale returning to the lineup and playing well, he hasn’t been given this opportunity because Howe believes he’s the long-term answer to Newcastle’s problems in goal.
In fact, Waugh added that the likelihood is that Newcastle won’t take up their option to sign Ramsdale permanently, and the goalkeeper will return to Southampton this summer.
Ramsdale’s run in the team is instead a reflection of Pope’s poor form and recent errors. Howe still prefers Pope at his best, and Newcastle plan to sign a different new goalkeeper this summer, Ramsdale is just in the better form right now.
This is somewhat disappointing from an Arsenal point of view, as the Gunners have a sell-on clause in Ramsdale’s Southampton contract.
If he’d joined Newcastle, Arsenal would have been due some of the proceeds, but they’ll now have to wait and see what happens with the goalkeeper this summer.
That will likely depend on how Southampton’s own season ends, as they sit just one spot off the play-off places at the time of writing. A late push for promotion and a return to the Premier League could make a Southampton stay a lot more likely for Ramsdale.