Arsenal complete goalkeeper move ahead of United States tour
- 18-year-old Tommy Setford set to join Arsenal from Ajax
- Young goalkeeper has represented England at various youth levels
- Setford highly rated and a signing very much for the future
Arsenal have completed the signing of teenage goalkeeper Tommy Setford ahead of their pre-season tour of the United States.
The talented 18-year-old had just a year remaining on his Ajax contract and the Dutch giants hoped he'd prolong his stay in the Netherlands.
But after it became clear that Setford was unwilling to sign a new deal, Ajax agreed to sell to Arsenal for a fee in the region of £1m.
Arsenal confirmed Setford's signing in a statement on Sunday morning, with academy manager Per Mertersacker saying: "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."
Setford was understandably delighted to secure the move and vowed to "hit the ground running" at his new club.
"I want to thank Arsenal for this opportunity," he said. "I already know Ethan [Nwnaeri] and Myles [Lewis-Skelly]. They’re great guys and I can have a good laugh with them. I spent a few camps with them, so I know them well. I just saw them for a quick meet and greet!
"I’m looking forward to learning new things next season and pushing myself to another level. For the short term, it’s very important now to get a feel for the group and start to know everyone."
Tune in to The Chronicles of a Gooner - the Arsenal podcast - as Harry Symeou discusses the potential arrival of Riccardo Calafiori at the Emirates Stadium.
Setford join as the club fly out late on Sunday to begin preparations for their friendly against Bournemouth on Wednesday.
Manchester United and Liverpool are Arsenal's two other opponents on their North American adventure, before an Emirates Cup clash with Lyon at home finishes the preparations of Mikel Arteta's players for the new Premier League season.
The Gunners are hoping to go one better than last year, when they finished as runners-up to Manchester City for a second successive season. Arsenal collected 89 points during 2023/24 - five more than they picked up a year prior - and even though they won their last six Premier League games, they were unable to topple Pep Guardiola's charges.
Setford's arrival deepens a goalkeeping pool that includes David Raya, Aaron Ramsdale and Karl Hein, who is expected to be the number one goalkeeper for Arsenal's tour as Raya and Ramsdale vacation after being away on Euro 2024 duty with Spain and England.
Another player who could eventually join Arsenal's tour party is Riccardo Calafiori, who is closing on a £38m move from Bologna. The versatile defender, who can play at centre-back or left-back, was in impressive form for Italy at Euro 2024, building on a tremendous club season that saw Bologna qualify for next season's Champions League.
Calafiori has agreed a five-year contract, with terms also agreed in principle between Arsenal and Bologna. The remaining steps are for the Italian side to negotiate with Calafiori's former club Basel over a sell-on clause, which would currently pocket the Swiss side up to 50% per cent of the fee.
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