Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder expressed regret over the sale of Aaron Ramsdale after joking the Bournemouth goalkeeper threatened to ruin his wedding day.
England Under-21 international Ramsdale made a solid Premier League debut on Saturday as the Cherries began the season with a 1-1 draw with Wilder’s newly promoted Blades.
Wilder has backed his former player to have a bright future but wishes United had been able to hold on to the 21-year-old and fellow academy prospects Dominic Calvert-Lewin and David Brooks during the club’s quest to reach the top flight.
“I sold him an hour before I got married on transfer day, he tried to balls that up,” said Wilder, who handed Ramsdale his senior debut in an FA Cup tie in November 2016.
“I got married in London and myself and the chief exec sold him to Bournemouth and then when that got done within an hour I was married.
“That’s why I will always remember Aaron Ramsdale, not just because he’s a good kid and I’m sure he’s got a fabulous future ahead of him.
“Maybe one of the little bits of regret is that the club have moved players on, and we had to. We had to move Dom on, we had to move Rammers on, even Brooksy.
“We’ve produced players and we want to keep hold of those players. But there has been a period where we’ve had to move them on to invest to get out of the division, which we’ve done.
“I wish Rammers all the best, he’s such a good kid, he’s a great prospect but, like I said, I’m never ever going to forget about him.”
Ramsdale moved to Dorset on January 31, 2017 for a reported £1million and had loan spells with Chesterfield and AFC Wimbledon before being thrust into first-team action at the weekend ahead of Artur Boruc and Asmir Begovic.
He made decent first-half saves from David McGoldrick and Callum Robinson before being beaten by Billy Sharp’s late strike which cancelled out Chris Mepham’s opener.
United sold Calvert-Lewin to Everton for around £1.5m the previous summer, while midfielder Brooks joined Bournemouth for an initial fee of £10m in July 2018.
Wales international Brooks was one of seven injury absentees for the Cherries at the Vitality Stadium due to an ankle problem.
Holland winger Arnaut Danjuma, a £13.7m purchase from Belgian club Club Brugge earlier this month, was also unavailable, with Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe at a loss to explain the player’s foot issue.
“He played the game last week (a friendly versus Lyon) and he just felt a pain on the bottom of his foot on Monday morning, so immediately he’s gone for some scans and we’re still assessing the injury,” said Howe.
“Absolutely bizarre because the player has done no training. He’s had a full medical and all the scans were clear and he’s picked up this problem.
“At the moment we don’t know how serious it is but we obviously hope to get him back very quickly.”
