Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale has admitted his admiration for Finnish great Jussi Jaaskelainen.

Ramsdale admits he looked up to Jaaskelainen as a junior player.

“As I was going through the Bolton system Jaaskelainen was a big part of my career – he was my early inspiration," Ramsdale told arsenal.com.

“Being able to watch him every other weekend at the home games was obviously huge for me, and then becoming close family friends with him and being able to speak to him about football and play in the garden with him and his son William, who's the same age as me.

“I'm still very close with them, but for me at that age to be around a Premier League player was huge. Also his coach at Bolton, Fred Barber, was the one who trained me in Stoke.

“He's still coaching at Crewe, after being at Bolton for years, and has a goalkeeping school in Stoke which is where I went to before moving to Bolton. So we had a connection with the Jaaskalainens through different people, and he was definitely an inspiration for me."

Ramsdale admits he based a lot of his game on the Finn.

“Yes, things like my set position," he explains. “Obviously getting coached by the same coach that Jussi worked with in Fred, he obviously stuck to his principles and taught all of the people who went to that goalkeeping school the same way.

“So you are given the basis, but then you see someone in the Premier League doing it week in, week out, you know it's working. So probably the way I position my hands and my legs are very similar to Jussi. I think it's more subconscious though, after years of training that way with Fred.

“If you see it in people you look up to, you'll try it, and if it sticks, it stays forever without you even thinking about it."