Got a company call in 20 minutes so this one might be a short one today, so let’s see how much I can get through before I have to quickly clock off for the day. The best place to start is of course Aaron Ramsdale’s new deal being confirmed yesterday, as the club released this video on the website and social media and I don’t know whether it was the emotive and sanguine music that was played as a bed to the video, but I found myself getting a little emotional when watching it.

Ramsdale signed amidst much scepticism just under two years ago. He cost £32million. Most of us – me included – why on earth we were signing a ‘keeper with whom I’d only really watched at Bournemouth and then at Sheffield United when we played the,. And I’ll admit I wasn’t really that impressed. I didn’t think he was an amazing shot-stopper, I didn’t think he looked very impressive and I saw him playing for Sheffield United lumping ball forward after ball forward. Now, to be fair, I know that the way that Sheffield United played was that he was instructed to do that, but I didn’t see anything in particular that stood out and I actually thought that £32million for him was a bit overpriced.

I listened to the Arsecast (sorry, can’t find the link) in which Andrew talked to a Sheffield United fan about Ramsdale. He said that Arsenal were getting him slightly on the cheap because Sheffield United were going down. I scoffed at that when I was listening whilst out on my run. I also remember this fan saying that Ramsdale had a really good season, but there had been times where he’d made mistakes and there had also been patches when his form dipped, his confidence dipped and he had a period of time when he wasn’t exactly great. Listening to that podcast hardly made me feel like we were getting a world beater.

Then he made his debut up at West Brom in the League Cup and I went up there with my ol’ mate Giles. We saw he was on the teamsheet and both of us were intrigued. He spent the first half at our end (I think – can’t 100% remember if it was the first or the second) and honestly, after he’d made a couple of smart stops and had started to interact with the crowd, I started to look at him and think ‘hmm, maybe he’ll be decent for us’.

It would only be a few weeks until he displaced Bernd Leno as our first choice ‘keeper and he has never looked back. He has been brilliant. All goalkeepers make mistakes, Ramsdale is no exception, but he is so young for a ‘keeper, he’s got so much time on his side and above all, he’s shown just how good he can be.

I couldn’t be happier about us having tied him down to a long term deal. We talk a lot about how this is a young squad and he is part of that, but his personality, what he brings to the club, everything about him, I love. In the video he even talks about THE Arsenal. I love it. More of that please. Hook that shizzle to my veins. I want more of it.

He also loves to have a laugh. He’s a character. That’s exactly what you want from your ‘keeper and whilst he admits that he feeds off of the away fans at the Emirates, or when we go away, I think most fans recognise that he enjoys playing the pantomime villain and although they flick the ‘v’s at him, I don’t think there’s too much animosity to him after the game has been done and dusted. At least I think not.

So for me this is a good move for The Arsenal. Ramsdale tied down. Gabriel tied down. Martinelli tied down. They need to get Saliba and Saka sorted, then show a sign of intent with an impressive signing early in the summer (maybe they can put a cheeky one in for Rice the day after the Europa Conference League Final??), which would really get us going in prep for what we all hope will bee a continuation of the good work that the team delivered on this season.

That’s it from me today. Back tomorrow with more in-depth thoughts.

Laters people.