League One club Stevenage are interested in signing Arsenal goalkeeper Tommy Setford on loan, but the Gunners currently don’t want to let him leave.
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James McNicholas reports for The Athletic that League One Stevenage are interested in signing Arsenal goalkeeper Tommy Setford on loan this summer, but the Gunners’ current stance is that he’s needed as their third-choice goalkeeper.
McNicholas adds that it remains to be seen whether Arsenal’s stance will change before the end of the summer window.
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With David Raya as Arsenal’s first-choice goalkeeper and Kepa Arrizabalaga arriving as a backup, the Gunners seemingly have a few different players in contention for the third-choice role.
Karl Hein is one of them, after his loan to Real Valladolid. But Hein is drawing interest from La Liga again this summer, and he may not be back at Arsenal for long. After a season playing regular matches, returning to be third choice also probably isn’t very appealing.
Then there are other academy goalkeepers like Lucas Nygaard, Alexei Rojas, Jack Porter, and Khari Ranson, but Setford is probably ahead of all of them in the pecking order.
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The dillemma is that Arsenal will want Setford to continue developing into a top goalkeeper, but even though they’re unlikely to have any minutes on offer to him, they also won’t want to risk an injury or suspension leaving them without a strong backup option.
Setford made his debut in the League Cup last season in similar circumstances, filling in for cup-tied loanee Neto.
Neither Raya nor Kepa will be cup tied this season, but you never know when the third-choice goalkeeper might have to step up again.
For the time being, Arsenal seemingly want to let things play out. If Hein ends up staying or someone else steps up in pre-season, perhaps then Setford would be free to go.
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