Aaron Ramsdale has transformed Arsenal in the short time he has been at the club and made himself undroppable under Mikel Arteta, according to the goalkeeper's former AFC Wimbledon manager Wally Downes.
There was plenty of concern among the Emirates Stadium faithful when they chose to spend a reported £24million on a goalkeeper who had just been relegated for the second time in two seasons.
Having suffered the drop with Bournemouth and Sheffield United, there appeared to be little appeal to signing the 23-year-old - but boy, has he proven a lot of people wrong.
Since Ramsdale's first Premier League start against Norwich, the Gunners have not lost a match, rising to fifth in the table and keeping five clean sheets in eight matches.
It is a remarkable run and how Ramsdale has changed the perception of him at his new club is particularly impressive, but it is something Downes never doubted he would do having taken him to Kingsmeadow on loan in 2019.
"He instilled belief and purpose and he’s done the same at Arsenal," he said in an interview with MailPlus.
"He’s transformed their season because he’s engaged the rest of the defence. He makes a great save and they’re high-fiving him and fist-bumping, proud not to let a goal in. I’ve not seen that in an Arsenal team for donkey’s years."
A string of excellent saves, including an outrageous stop against Leicester to deny James Maddison, coupled with accurate distribution, has resulted in many demanding he be made England's new number one.
But Downes has insisted that it is not just his technical attributes that make him such a valuable member of Arteta's side, but his communication and behaviour around the club.
"It was a stroke of managerial genius by Mikel Arteta because the season was getting away from Arsenal and the players they were relying on were letting them down," he said. "They had a team of young kids and bad role models.
"What they needed was someone with backbone who would not stand for it if others turned up late and did not put their bodies on the line. The kid is not afraid to do that. He’s a positive voice, very inclusive, and others feed off him.
"Maybe Arteta saw what he was like, put him in, and he’s changed the chemistry of the place."
