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You would associate the word plagued with injuries, but in the case of Aaron Ramsdale, it’s relegations and bad luck that is stopping the goalkeeper from reaching higher levels in his performances.
Born in Stoke-on-Trent, the goalkeeper actually started his career at Sheffield United and progressed through the youth ranks at the Blades.
After making his first-team debut in November 2016, in a 6-0 victory over Leyton Orient, the goalkeeper decided to switch to the South Coast in January 2017 and play his football at AFC Bournemouth.
Featuring once on the bench in the remainder of the 2016/17 season, the young shot-stopper would see the same happen for the first half of the 2017/18 campaign as he decided to move out on loan in order to get more experience at his young age.
Moving to Chesterfield in January, he featured 19 times in the remainder of the League Two season that saw the Spirerites relegated from the Football League and down into the National League.
Ramsdale was only able to keep two clean sheets during his time at the Derbyshire club conceding 33 goals in the process and experiencing his first relegation as a player.
He returned back to Bournemouth that summer but was moved out on loan again in January 2019, this time his destination was League One with AFC Wimbledon.
The Dons were able to make it to the Fifth Round of the FA Cup that season, narrowly missing out on the Quarter-Finals after being defeated 1-0 by Millwall.
Wimbledon were also threatened by relegation that season, but a 0-0 draw against Bradford on the final day of the League One season, as well as a Scunthorpe United loss at Plymouth, saw Ramsdale and the Dons stay up by the skin of their teeth.
His seven clean sheets and only 26 goals conceded at the London club showed that he could potentially step-up to the Premier League plate. Bournemouth decided to give him that opportunity and pushed the England under-21 goalkeeper in between the sticks after only two half-seasons as a professional.
The Cherries found themselves in a relegation battle in 2019/20, and though they fought hard to stay up in the top-flight, they were one point short of safety and dropped into the Championship.
Ramsdale was only able to keep five clean sheets with 62 goals in 37 matches shipped past him in the Premier League as he endured another relegation in his young career.
The goalkeeper was able to secure a move to the top tier with his boyhood club, Sheffield United, luring him back to Bramall Lane in a deal costing the Blades £18.5 million .
Fast forward a couple of months to the present day and he finds himself in another relegation battle, but this one is not a close fight, the Yorkshire club find themselves 15 points away from safety with 12 games to go.
Costly mistakes, most notably against Chelsea where he took Timo Werner down in the penalty box, has been a pivotal point in his performances and his lack of confidence.
Keeping one clean sheet in his last 26 Premier League appearances for the Blades, it looks like the 22-year-old will be enduring another relegation and this will be his third in four professional seasons.
Nonetheless, the performance against Liverpool was outstanding for the shot-stoppers confidence as he showed calmness and determination that most Blades fans would have never seen before from their number one.
Ramsdale made a fine intervention in the first few minutes of the match. Andy Robertson looked to race through but the Blades shot-stopper got there ahead of the left-back and simply chested the ball away from the Scotsman and booted the ball up the field.
A few moments later, Roberto Firmino was one on one with the shot-stopper and again Ramsdale was fantastic as he denied the Brazillian with an outstretched hand to prevail and keep the game level.
The first-half belonged to the Englishmen as he collected the ball from under Firmino’s toes when the forward was played in beautifully by Thiago Alcantara.
Throughout the whole 90 minutes of the match, Ramsdale made seven saves, which was four more than Adrian, as he was also able to make ten recoveries, making two more recoveries than the Liverpool shot-stopper.
With confidence, the goalkeeper will thrive and blossom and only being 22 means that he has a long career ahead of him at the top level if he can put in fantastic performances like the one against the Reds.
If he can continue to improve and prove that he can be a great goalkeeper on his day, especially with everyone behind him and with the confidence of his teammates around him, then he will be able to make steady progress to reaching the heights of his career when he is in his prime.
For now, Ramsdale must work on his consistency and once he has been able to put in fine performance after fine performance, he will go on to do bigger and better things and not just having a relegation battle on his mind every season as he has done since turning professional.
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