With Gavin Bazunu probably missing all of next season and the remaining keepers at St Mary's not fitting the bill as a permanent basis for one reason or another, Saints have been looking elsewhere and it seems they could well land a top class keeper.

Southampton have been linked along with Newcastle for Arsenal's Aaron Ramsdale, with the Gunners now second choice stopper publicly having stated that he is unwilling to spend a second season sat on the bench and Arsenal accepting that fact and willing to consider letting him move, either on a temporary or permanent basis.

Some Southampton supporters have expressed an opinion that he would never drop down to a club such as Saints, but the truth is as it stands there are not many options for Ramsdale in the top 10.

Newcastle are the only one of the Big 7 clubs linked, the other 6 all being happy with their goalkeeping options and Arsenal probably being unwilling to loan a player to a potential Champions League rival.

The North Eastern media outlet The Shields Gazette have appraised Newcastle's likelihood of going for Ramsdale and consider it fairly low that they would go for Ramsdale, the Geordies already have Nick Pope as their number one and he looks likely to be back inbetween the posts for this season after returning in the final game of the season after a 3 month lay off with a dislocated shoulder.

He is just one of 5 goalkeeping options that the Toon have, aside from Pope, they have Martin Dubvavka, who although 35 now is still able to step into action when called upon, they also have Mark Gillespie a solid 3rd choice who has extensive experience in the lower leagues.

These three have been joined by two new acquisitions this summer, 37 year old John Ruddy joined from Birmingham City on a free transfer, after spending the last two years as their number 1.

The other new man is Odysseas Vlachodimos, who was signed from Nottingham Forest for an undisclosed fee, the 30 year joined Forest a year ago from Benfica but failed to dislodge any of Forest's two other senior keepers.

The gist is that Newcastle are overloaded in the goalkeeping department, aside from Pope they have at least two very adequate deputies, so its claimed that although linked it is unlikely that Newcastle are actually interested.

The field is shortened by clubs who definitely do not need a new keeper, Villa have Emiliano Martinez, Everton of course have Jordan Pickford, Brighton have Bart Verbruggen who starred for Holland in the recent Euros, West Ham have just signed Wes Foderingham as back up to both Alphonse Areola & Lukasz Fabianski and Crystal Palace have Dean Henderson & Sam Johnson.

Thats 11 of the 20 Premier League clubs unlikely to be in for Ramsdale, Bournemouth are likely to stick with Neto between the posts rather than go in for their former keeper, likewise Fulham with Bernd Leno, Nottingham Forest with Matz Sels, Wolves with Jose Sa & Brentford with Mark Flekken.

That leaves just the newly promoted club's and of the other two, Ipswich have just spent £10 million on Arijanet Muric from Burnley, so are not going to be in the market& Leicester with their Financial Fair Play issues are also overloaded with keepers, Welsh International keeper Danny Ward is still at the club, but it was Mads Hermansen who signed last summer who played all but2 of the League games.

So when we analyse the goalkeeping needs of the other 19 clubs in the Premier League, the options for Aaron Ramsdale to move to are not that wide.

That is good news for Southampton supporters, the goalkeeping position is going to be vital next season, we need a keeper who has proven experience at this level and who is at the peak of their game, Ramsdale at 26 and with 5 Premier League seasons to his name, 4 of those as first choice and 153 games to his name ticks all those boxes.

I would not expect to see him arrive on a permanent basis, but a season long loan would perhaps suit all parties, Arsenal who would want to retain their asset and see his value rise after a good season back in action in the Premier, Ramsdale who would get the first team football that he has said he wants and put himself in the frame to take over from Jordan Pickford in the England squad and of course Southampton who need a top class keeper.

Photo: Action Images

Bowlercow added 14:20 - Jul 25 Ramsdale,BBDiaz from Villarreal,O'Riley from Celtic,Jusurun from Palce,Ryan from Newcastle and we are ready to go
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Jesus_02 added 15:06 - Jul 25 estimates 5m on a two year contract for McCarthy .. whoes Idea was that ?
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JoeEgg added 08:29 - Jul 26 Ramsdale to Saints? Well he will certainly be kept busy if he comes here!!!!!!!!!!!! Maybe he can also double as a part-time striker?
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