Could Lucas Nygaard be Arsenals future number one goalkeeper?
At the end of last month Arsenal signed Lucas Nygaard for their academy set-up who certainly looks promising currently, so could he be here for the long-term?
The goalkeeper was brought in from Danish side FC Nordsjaelland where he made his way through the levels and has also played a pivotal role on the International stage for his country Denmark. He’s been picked to play in goal from u-16 level to u-18s level and has been a true leader on the field despite being only 18 playing skipper whilst Denmark were defeated with ease 3-0 in October 2023 versus Norway.
The keeper was signed due to a slight goalkeeper crisis on the academy side of things at London Colney with Arthur Okonkwo leaving for Ryan Reynolds’ Wrexham where he spent a stint on loan recently. On top of this, despite Karl Hein signing a new contract even he could depart on a loan deal, meaning someone needs to fill the gloves permanently with Nygaard potentially being the solution to the issue, however the Gunners have also secured the deal of England young safe hands Tommy Setford from Ajax who apparently be first choice for the U21’s to start with. Our Academy Manager, Per Mertesacker said: “We welcome Tommy to Arsenal. He is a young goalkeeper with big potential and we look forward to supporting his development in the coming years.
“The first step on Tommy’s development pathway with us will be to integrate into our under-21s academy group and train regularly with our first team goalkeeping group.”
If (now backup) goalie Aaron Ramsdale leaves, Karl Hein will most likely take up his position ahead of the two new arrivals, leaving third choice goalie for the first team to Nygaard or Setford going forward. There’s a good chance that Ramsdale could leave as he was unhappy last season when being second guessed as Arsenal’s main keeper.
Ramsdale declared before the Euros; “no footballer wants to not play. I’ve had a tough year personally not playing and I never want to do that again, it was tough, it was tough.
“But I have a release now, I’m now here, I’ve got the greatest honour, the greatest badge on my chest, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if I play a minute or no minutes, it will be the pinnacle for me, the best day ever.”
Ramsdale has also been linked with potential moves to Premier League sides Chelsea, Newcastle United and Southampton who secured promotion back to the top-flight of English football in May at first attempt after beating Leeds United 1-0 in the Championship playoff final.
Does this mean that eventually if Nygaard stays at The Emirate’s and carries on improving, he could eventually be experimented as Mikel Arteta’s second choice goalkeeper and potentially first one day? Only time will tell…
Of course, it is still possible that Ramsdale may decide to stay….
Liam Harding
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answer = ‘No’
Just to expand on “no”, in my opinion the keeper to be promoted will be Dan Bentley, when he eventually signs from Wolves.
further detail to ‘no’ as requested
Hein has been clear that signing a contract extension is on the basis of being loaned out this season – first name taken care of
Nygard and Setford are both teenagers joining the youth set up, that is clear and not debated
in terms of first team back-up to Raya it is either Ramsdale or his replacement, which none of the above are
if are debating which of Hien, Nygard or Setford is 3rd choice on the bench then I will leave you to it, but irrelevant for all intents and purposes
Surely an eighteen-year-old has to be close to a first-team spot At that age you should gauge his talent and have an idea if he’ll make the grade with a little more time shaving the rough edges I feel at 18 we should know if the boy has quality
We can’t take a risk with unproven keeper as a second choice, Raya might get injured and that would very detrimental.
Sell Ramsdale
Loan Hein
Bring in an experienced no.2
Then NYGAARD can be no.3
Tommy in the u21s
Why exactly then are Arsenal trying to sign 31 year old keeper Bentley from Wolves?
A lot of clubs are getting in experienced keepers as third or even fourth choice. Not only is it very useful to have that option if the first two go down but it is also worth having good keepers in training. Man Utd have Tom Heaton who was taken to the Euros as an extra member of the squad just for training.
I would be happy with Hein as back up. He has thirty caps for Estonia and we can play him in the league cup and perhaps some champions league games.