Analyzing Tommy Setford's Impact on Arsenal's Squad

People deluded I'm back again. Arsenal have formally completed the signing of Ajax goalkeeper 18-year-old Tommy Setford. Now what do we know about this goalie? Online there isn't too much to really pick apart. Now during his time at Arsenal Football Club, however long he's here, no doubt us Arsenal fans will get more familiar with him. But if you're wishing to learn a lot more about our recent goalkeeping signing that's travelled off to America with the first team squad, then I've got you covered. Now there's a lot of interesting things about him. We know he's an English youth international, has represented England's under-16s, under-17s and under-20s. And with that he knows Miles Lewis-Skelly and young Ethan from his days in England's youth side. And now they're teammates essentially. He's got quite the interesting story. He has a Dutch mother and an English father and his dad's actually a pro golfer. He comes from a family of sporting individuals. In fact, his brother Charlie Setford, who last year was linked with several clubs, is 20 years of age, also at Ajax in their second string side and is also a decent goalie in his own right people, which is quite interesting essentially. He stands at 1.85 metres at 18 years of age, obviously with scope to grow. He's not the biggest of goalkeepers, although I believe technically that would make him taller than David Raya. What I like about him is, let's be honest, in relation to the English game, the English philosophy, the English ethos of playing out from the back in comparison to all the other European nations, England are playing catch-up. The Premier League, which you can't really see a whole bunch of English managers, all put emphasis on defending from the front with a striker and progressing play initially from your goalkeeper. So height is always going to matter to a goalie, but it's what you can do with your feet. If you look at the Euros campaign, Jordan Pickford has always been good for England and was great in the Euros, but one of the problems was he's not a progressive passer with the ball. When you look at Unai Simone of Spain, I reckon traditional goalkeeping, Jordan Pickford is twice the goalkeeper Unai Simone is, but in terms of progressive play, he's not. Now, that's also something that attracts me to Tommy Setford. Obviously, he's come from the Ajax School of Education, which obviously closely aligns with Arsenal Football Club. So there's a lot to like about him, if I'm honest. I actually think, though he initially struggled and struggles with making the right decisions when playing out from the back, he looks more comfortable in that, in my opinion. He's now picking the right decisions. I do think he elects to go long more than short, but you could reckon with Arsenal, with our coaches at academy level, with Inaki Kanya at first team level, at some point you're going to probably train with Aaron Ramsdale and David Raya, international Premier League staple goalkeepers. There's no doubt there's a bunch of things for him to learn, people, and he could progress in that. I do think he's, you know, he's improved his short and long range passing. I do think he's trusting himself more. You know, I do still think he doesn't look comfortable in all situations in that regards, but he's 18 years of age, people, and he's in the right place to learn, people. And I have to wonder, what is Arsenal's real intentions with signing him, people? I think there could potentially be several reasons. I think the first one is, you know, we need a competitive squad at under 21s level. We've seen a couple of goalkeepers depart and our playing squad isn't the strongest. Now, he's technically the second academy recruit to go with Lucas Njordgaard, a Danish international. So that's evidently one aspect to give us a more creative team. And I do think, I mean, creative options. Secondly, he fits the modern goalkeeper. He's come from the Ajax trail of four. He plays from, you know, he's progressive in terms of playing out from the back. He is English and homegrown. So the allure to return home, even though you can imagine, despite being English, has spent a large part of his life in Holland, to return home is obviously something that's a key aspect. I believe his family, forgive me if I'm wrong, actually live in England. Thirdly as well, of course, at 18 years of age, you know, you're young, you're a baby goalkeeper essentially. But you'd imagine David Rye isn't going anywhere anytime soon. We've just announced his permanent signing, essentially, people. So again, 18 versus, you know, mid to late 20s with David Rye. I can't see him eclipsing Rye and taking his first team spot, but I don't know that. So again, I think there's several reasons. I think the first one is to buy low and sell high, which is, you know, needed in any walk of life or any walk of business life. You've bought him reportedly for around 300 to 400,000. If you now progress and develop him, and I'd imagine within the next 12 to 18 months, he departs on loan. He's someone that could progress to Arsenal. We hope he could be a first choice goalkeeper at one stage, or maybe a second or third. He's someone that could be sold for a few million pounds, really and truly. I'd be really surprised if this time next year, he hasn't gone on loan. I think maybe even in January, I think initially he'll obviously, you know, stability and whatnot, stay within the academy, learn his craft at Arsenal. But the next steps are being outside of your comfort zone, essentially, people. So I think there's several reasons, mainly return on investment. What I seem to like about him as well, if I'm honest with you, is he seems to have a top mentality. You've got to be crazy to be a goalkeeper anyways, but he seems like he enjoys playing outside and being outside of his comfort zone. In the screenshot you're seeing, he spoke of it not only being an honour playing for England at the Under-17 World Cup, but he also relished playing in different conditions, you know, also different weather, playing in front of thousands of fans, obviously tournament football, the margins for winning and losing are quite minimal people. And he also said, I like his mentality because he also said on a personal point of view, he believes he had a great tournament. When he spoke about his brother, no doubt, you know, when you mentioned Tommy, you're going to mention Charlie. When you mentioned Charlie, you're going to mention Tommy. I think he said on his older brother, he said, you know, Charlie is more calculated than him and he plays more on intuition. Now you need to have a sixth sense to be a goalkeeper. So I like the fact he plays on intuition, but again, calculated. The older you get, the more you need to find balance. So I do think there's something you could learn. Currently, he's flown to America to join the first team preparation plans in which he has a chance to show Mikel Arteta and the goalkeeping and coaching staff what he's all about because we haven't got David Rye, we haven't got Aaron Ramsdale and, you know, you look at Wolves, the bid for Wolves is Dan Bentley. That's not gone anywhere. So again, you know, it's a bit of a free-for-all where the goalies are concerned. And who knows, if you impress and show your quality, you might be able to tip the scales and change Arsenal's opinions in relation to bringing in more goalies. Because as we know, if Aaron Ramsdale departs, in my opinion, I think we sign a second-choice keeper. If we do get Dan Bentley from Wolves, in my humble opinion, I do think that is going to be the third-choice goalkeeper. So I'm sure he's got ambitions to play for Arsenal Football Club and make it, and we hope he does as well. But I think it's a relationship of convenience. I think he reckons, you know, he might not get ahead of his brother in the set-up right now at Ajax. So he comes to Arsenal, establishes himself at under-21s level in our academy. And you can see when he signed for Arsenal Football Club in the document online, it keeps reiterating academy. And then try and progress from there. If you can make it to the first team, great. If you can learn what you can learn from Arsenal, go out alone and get some senior experience and break through at Arsenal, all be moved on for a couple of million pounds or a lot more, then it's a relationship of convenience and everybody's a winner, people. The first step, as I said, is climbing the goalkeeping pyramid. And I'm going to enjoy finding out a lot more about him because I do think it's a good sign. And it did take me, by surprise, in the sense that we went for him. But for me, I think he's a decent player and I'm keen to learn a lot more about him. So yeah, it was a short piece where I thought, you know what, let me just shed one, two bits of light in relation to him. Don't forget to let me know your thoughts. Do you think you can progress to Arsenal's first team one day or not? Don't forget to hit the like button, comment and subscribe. God bless you all. Stay safe, stay blessed. Peace.