Mat Ryan will play on loan at Arsenal for the rest of the EPL season.Credit:Twitter
The 28-year-old – the last remaining Socceroo in the Premier League – has made the temporary switch from Brighton and Hove Albion,where he had played for four years. He was dropped suddenly in December,left out of their matchday squad for the last seven league fixtures,and told he could look elsewhere for first-team football.
Ryan learned of Arsenal’s interest in him a week ago and said negotiations moved swiftly to seal the deal,which is one of the highest-profile switches made by an Australian men’s player in recent memory.
“Quite simply,[it’s] a dream come true,” he told the Arsenal website.
“There’s still an aura of surrealness to it all to be honest. It’s hard to put into words the emotions and the feeling ... Arsenal was my childhood club that I followed as a kid and to be sitting here right now,to represent them,is something that I never thought would become a reality.
“All those mornings as a young kid in Australia,getting up to watch the Champions League games and all that at 4 o’clock in the morning when I had school – to support back in the Thierry Henry,Denis Bergkamp days,to now be here fills me with a great sense of pride and achievement.”
Ryan’s first task is to fight for selection. Mikel Arteta has brought him in not as a first-choice player but as competition for Bernd Leno,the current No.1,and Alex Runarsson. It’s a challenge the Central Coast Mariners product has fully embraced and believes will bring the best out of all of them.