Definitely torn on this one and a lot depends on the money.
The Jack Butland point is one I've also had nagging in my mind.
As a long term investment, Rammers is now looking very sound. Next decade sorted. Chalk up 400 appearances. No need for Agent fees, for signing on fees, transfer fees, bad purchases etc. That would be a huge plus.
Then as you say, Butland could have gone for 20m. He didn't. Went for a pittance. Stoke now virtually offering to give their high earners away to avoid P&S issues. Without wanting to sound too smalltime, before we got to the PL 20m was a year's turnover to us.
You also look at the proper long term infrastructure things you want to see - Training ground being one of them and Academy 'A' status and that money goes a very long way.
However, I have a sense that Arsenal will not offer the money to make this worthwhile, so I certainly wouldn't go chasing a deal.
How much did Allison cost? He went from being bought for a shade over 7m by Roma to 56m rising to 67m in the space of 2 years. Having a decent keeper at the very top level is hugely important with the money for being in or out of the top 4.
I'm not saying Ramsdale is as good but if Allison is worth up to 67m, then there is no reason to buckle at the first sign of interest and give way in the 20-24m range, even if we may have paid closer to 13m right now than 18.5m.
It may be through some misfortune to others but at the time of writing he is England's number 3 and he's also the youngest too and therefore has the highest potential trajectory.
If he stays then this isn't a position we need to worry about anymore for the short or long term.
He'll also be worth a few results performance wise now he has settled down. It does a lot for the defence to have a keeper they can depend upon right behind them.
What does the new manager think or know? Selling his first choices before he is in the door also isn't a good message.
There's also a question mark around the other keepers. Set aside Dewhurst and Amissah who at best will go on loan. Outside of Rammers, that leaves Verrips, Foderingham and Eastwood.
Verrips had a positive impact on Emmen even though they eventually succumbed to relegation. But was he exceptional to a level to threaten Ramsdale or was he just better than the previous incumbent? Eastwood, after a few stop starts in Scotland and England, left Grimsby with an enhanced reputation. Foderingham still has a question mark over him and to be honest, if we could lose him off the roster without incurring costs, I'd be inclined to do so. Wasteful signing. If we were down to the bones of needing him, then we could have loaned a keeper for emergency. That was spending money just because you could.
To steal Roy's good work on Verrips, the feedback was encouraging:
“verrips has been outstanding.”
“Verrips makes an excellent impression, and I dare him calmly with the best keepers in the league”
“Man of the match tonight”
“Best player!”
“Verrips made at least two great saves.”
“Verrips kept us in the match”
“We now have a good goalkeeper”
“Goalkeeper with the most potential in the Netherlands”
“Should be in Netherlands roster”
“Been very strong”
“Verrips’ mistake, but it remains a great goalie”
” goalkeeper was still the hero against FC Utrecht, his blunder seemed to lead to the 17th defeat of the season”
“Verrips too expensive to buy”
If he really should be in the Netherland's Roster and really is the keeper with the most potential in Netherlands, then wouldn't that at least give him serious consideration? He seems to stack up a little near the bottom on saves compared to a handful of other Dutch possibles. He's second youngest though and better has a higher save % than the one younger than him. Plus it's reasonable to think a team near the bottom will face a better quality of shots given they are worse at defending. Krul is ok but 80% makes him look exceptional. In truth a lot of those shots were probably long range no hopers from teams under th cosh. For Verrips it's likely a number of shots were clean on goal as the defence was opened up like a knife through butter.
It's tough not really knowing how good the others are.
My inclination is to keep Rammers. But once conversation heads north of 30m towards 35m, then common sense kicks in a little. If you want to be a Big Club then you need to act like one. We certainly did that with the manager appointment. There is just a limit to that when clubs like Arsenal come in if they offer big money and you are in the Championship. Brighton are turning down 40m for White but they have th luxury of being in the Premier League. In the end, this is what may undo us, especially if his International ambitions are in the balance while out of the top flight especially when surrounded by players on 2x and more his salary.
