Edu's Emi Martinez transfer gamble pays off for Arsenal as Aaron Ramsdale prediction comes true

It's only a few months ago that pundits were falling over themselves to express their disdain at Arsenal's decision to spend £24million to bring Aaron Ramsdale in from Sheffield United.

The 23-year-old arrived at the Emirates off the back of consecutive relegations with Bournemouth and the Blades, with criticism on social media being so vicious that he was forced to limit comments on his Instagram posts before he had even signed.

A factor in what made the discourse so vitriolic was the fact that Ramsdale ended up costing more than the Gunners had let Emi Martinez go for when the Argentine had move to Aston Villa the summer before.

Six months down the line though, it's starting to become clear that Edu and Mikel Arteta knew what they were doing.

Ramsdale has been one of the top keepers in the Premier League and is second only to Liverpool's Alisson and Manchester City's Ederson in terms of clean sheets. When you consider the 23-year-old did not actually make his debut for the Gunners until four games into the season, this is no mean feat.

As well as making some tremendous saves - most notably a seemingly impossible one from James Maddison's free kick against Leicester - the former Sheffield United stopper has revolutionised Arsenal's ability to play out from the back.

His ability to be diverse in his distribution has helped the Gunners quickly progress up the pitch by breaking defensive lines and has been a vast upgrade on what was provided by Bernd Leno in season's prior.

"I think he has settled in a group that is very welcoming that has young energy and with humble senior players that accommodate you straight away," Arteta said of Ramsdale's start to life after that remarkable save against the Foxes

"Then Aaron's