AARON RAMSDALE believes Arsenal can become serial winners now they are buying players who can put their medals on the table.
The goalkeeper was one of six aspiring young players Mikel Arteta signed last year as part of the first wave of his infamous Emirates "project."
Ben White, Martin Odegaard, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Albert Sambi Lokonga, and Nuno Tavares were also purchased by the Gunners for £150 million.
However, none of those new hires had any prior knowledge of what it takes to win a championship when they joined.
This learning gap has now been filled thanks to the recent hirings of Gabriel Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko, and Fabio Vieira.
The trio, who together have 11 league champion medals, will be invaluable, says Ramsdale, 24.
The England stopper said: “The club have been wanting hungry young players who are willing to develop and learn.
“But this year they are bringing in players who fit into that plan but who have also won titles. And that’s invaluable.
“When you have a young team you need a few players who know how to win through the whole season.
“Those we’re bringing in are from the same mould as last year, so there is a clear plan in place — that’s very exciting.”
Ramsdale understands that there is still a long way to go before Arsenal is ready to compete with Manchester City and Liverpool for the championship, though, and he is aware that success won't come overnight.
That's not our struggle to win right now, he acknowledged.
"Our objective is to get as near to them as we can with this group, adapt and learn, and in a few years strive to be on the same level. We realize it's going to be hard to win the league with those two, with the experience they've gathered from the past few years.
But it’s not as though when we play them we just let them walk all over us because on our day we know we can beat anyone.”
There were raised eyebrows when Arsenal paid £24m to sign Ramsdale despite him being relegated three times in four years with Chesterfield, Bournemouth and Sheffield United.
But those doubts were ended when he quickly established himself as the club’s first-choice keeper with a string of outstanding performances.
He admits: “The expectations and demands at Arsenal definitely shocked me at the start.
“Although there’s a lot of pressure when you’re fighting relegation, it’s totally different when you go into games and you’re expected to win.
“The disappointment level is a lot greater at Arsenal if you don’t get the right result.”
Ramsdale is conscious that success won't happen immediately and that there is still a long way to go before Arsenal is prepared to compete with Manchester City and Liverpool for the championship.
He admitted that right now, we're not trying to win that battle.
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