Peter Schmeichel has criticised Mikel Arteta’s decision to sign Brentford goalkeeper David Raya for Arsenal.
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Raya is due to undergo a medical on Thursday after Arsenal agreed a £30 million deal with Brentford earlier this week.
The Spaniard will join on an initial loan deal worth £3m, while Arsenal have the option to make the move permanent next summer for £27m.
Raya will now compete with Aaron Ramsdale to become Arsenal’s first-choice goalkeeper this season, while Arteta has made it clear that he wants competition for places in all areas of his squad.
But Schmeichel, who won five Premier League titles during his career with Manchester United, believes Arteta’s decision to have two strong goalkeepers in his squad could create a ‘bad atmosphere’ in the dressing room.
‘I absolutely do not get it,’ Schmeichel told BBC Radio 5 Live.
‘I cannot understand how a manager can come to the conclusion that it’s a great thing to have competition for the number one shirt.
‘A goalkeeper’s position is very reactive. You cannot create anything on your own, you have to wait for things to happen.
‘You’re now asking your goalkeeper to prove you’re better than the other one. That means you now have to go and do stuff, and you don’t want that. It’s the one position on the pitch where you just want steady.
‘When you have a competition situation he also plays that game for himself and for that position, and I don’t get it.
‘What you do is you put a lot of insecurity into the two of them.
‘At the same time, having two challenging for number one, you’re also creating potentially a bad atmosphere in the dressing room because it’s a straight up competition between two guys who will either start or not play.
‘They need to know if it goes wrong, which it does now and again, everyone makes a mistake and everyone costs a goal, that the manager says, ‘that’s alright, mate, you’re still my number one’. You need to have that confidence. If you don’t, you cannot perform 100 per cent for the team.’
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