Aaron Ramsdale admits he was caught out when Arsenal signed Oleksandr Zinchenko ‘out of the blue’

Aaron Ramsdale has revealed he was aware Arsenal were going to complete the signing of Gabriel Jesus from Manchester City last summer, but was shocked when Oleksandr Zinchenko followed the Brazilian to North London.

The Arsenal goalkeeper was asked on the The Fellas podcast whether players were aware of incoming transfers to the club.

Ramsdale offered the comparison of Jesus and Zinchenko’s moves from Manchester City, with the England international admitting sometimes players had knowledge of moves, but on other occasions were in the dark.   

Aaron Ramsdale admitted to being shocked by Oleksandr Zinchenko’s move to Arsenal

The public nature of the club’s pursuit of Jesus and an awareness of the type of player that manager Mikel Arteta was looking to recruitment had convinced him the Brazilian was joining.

Jesus signed at the start of July with his £45million move addressing Arsenal’s need for attacking reinforcements, following the departures of Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang last season.

The arrival of Zinchenko took Ramsdale by surprise, with the Ukrainian having left Man City’s pre-season training camp to complete a £32million switch just two weeks after Jesus.

Gabriel Jesus moved to Arsenal for £45million after a well-documented pursuit of the forward

‘It depends how much really, it depends on how well documented the transfer is,’ Ramsdale said.

‘Gabriel Jesus basically, I knew 85-90 per cent he was coming to us.

‘That’s just the case of social media doing its thing and kind of knowing the type of person the manager wants.

‘Zinchenko on the other hand, out of the blue.

Zinchenko joined Arsenal during their pre-season tour after a deal was quickly reached

‘That gathered speed in about four days, it was literally like “Arsenal are interested in Man City star Zinchenko” from someone on Twitter, thought nothing of it, you hear all sorts.

‘Two days later the deal is agreed, three days later he was meeting the team.’

Jesus and Zinchenko have played important roles in the Gunners’ superb first half to the Premier League season.

Arteta’s side top the Premier League table by five points from Manchester City, with the two teams also meeting in the FA Cup on Friday.

Arteta highlighted Zinchenko’s menality as being been crucial to helping his side this season

Zinchenko had been singled out for praise by Arteta ahead of the tie due to his mentality, reinforcing Ramsdale’s comments about the kind of player the Arsenal boss had looked to recruit. 

‘He’s a player that gives us everything we want in that position, and gives us versatility,’ Arteta said. He gets a lot of attention as well and fills a lot of spaces, and that for us is really important. 

‘I would especially highlight his mentality; what he has brought is a real desire to win and make something special with this team, and the experiences that he’s had in the past are very helpful for us to do that.’