Gary Neville has already told Aaron Ramsdale what he must do amid Arsenal transfer exit talk

It's been an incredibly frustrating season for Aaron Ramsdale.

The Arsenal goalkeeper started the Gunners' first five games of the season, including the Community Shield win over Manchester City, but was brutally axed from the starting line-up following the summer arrival of David Raya. The 26-year-old only featured six more times throughout the campaign, with two of those appearances coming against Brentford due to Raya being ineligible to play against his parent club.

It was a drastic change for Ramsdale, who had been one of Arsenal's best players throughout the past two seasons. Throughout 2021/22 and 2022/23 the England international played 78 times for the north Londoners, keeping 29 clean sheets in that time. Not bad form at all.

But Arteta simply preferred Raya and now the former Sheffield United man has a big decision to make over his future. Does he stick around at Emirates Stadium and fight for a place in the starting XI with Raya? Or does he seek pastures new and move elsewhere?

Ramsdale himself was asked about his future in October during international duty with England and admitted he was concerned about his lack of action and how it may impact his playing time with the Three Lions. "Yes, of course, it is the first time I have found myself in this situation," the goalkeeper said.

"The manager here [Gareth Southgate] is brilliant, he trusts the players he's worked with before as we've seen in different types of ways - you'll see Kalvin [Phillips] and Harry [Maguire] haven’t played the most amount of minutes but when they step up for England and are given the opportunity, they perform. So if if that's the case for myself and I do get shown that trust to play another game if I haven't played for my club then I will have to repay him.

"But of course, I want to get back into my club team. I want to get into my club team and be able to give the manager a headache rather than just have Jordan [Pickford] as the England number one and me fall by the wayside."

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Obviously it didn't work out how Ramsdale hoped and although he has been included in Gareth Southgate provisional England squad for Euro 2024, the likelihood is that Pickford remains England No.1. Interestingly, Gary Neville spoke about Ramsdale and his lack of playing time at Arsenal earlier this season and insisted he could ask to move on.

"If it carries on like this, he’s going to have to knock on [Mikel Arteta’s] door and say 'look, I need to play football somewhere else if it carries on like this'," Neville said on the Stick to Football podcast. Former Premier League goalkeeper Brad Friedel shares a similar view.

"Listen, there’s going to come a time where they are going to have to let Ramsdale go. If Raya is the long-term No.1, they’ll have to let Ramsdale go," Friedel told Sky Sports.

"I think the stats back Arsenal’s faith in Raya and that’s fine, but Ramsdale is too good to be sitting on the bench. He should be playing somewhere and I’m sure he’ll be able to find a place to go. They’re two very, very talented goalkeepers."

It remains to be seen if Ramsdale will look to end his three-year spell in north London this summer, although both player and club would likely welcome clarity sooner rather than later.