Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale has paid tribute to his boyhood idol Bruce Lee following the controversy surrounding his efforts at landing a butterfly kick on West Ham’s Jarrod Bowen.
Known to his friends and family as ‘Angry Aaron’ while growing up, it is understood that the shot-stopper-cum-kung-fu fighter turned to martial arts as early as nine years old in a bid to instil discipline into his life, achieving a black belt in karate, kung-fu, judo and wrestling.
“He used these forms of combat as a way to not only keep his aggression under control, but also to give himself the best opportunity at brutally destroying any attacker who dared to score past him in the junior football leagues” said a former under-12s teammate who has asked to remain anonymous through fear of being crane-kicked to the temple.
“As a kid, he preferred Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee over Ian Wright and David Seamen and chose to follow the methods of Mr Miyagi over Arsene Wenger.
“He didn’t let in many goals when we were younger because the opposition were always too afraid to score just in case Aaron caught up with them after the game. There was this one time we lost 1-0 and it turned into Karate-chop central, 14 kids laying in a heap with raging Ramsdale just stood over them.
“Until the age of 15, he wanted to be referred to as dragonfly and always wore his black belt with his goalkeeper kit, but nobody dared question him as he was simply that dangerous. You can probably guess that he never got a girlfriend until his 20s.”
Tipped to be the next long-term England number one, Paddy Power News managed to speak to a source close to Ramsdale who had this to say on the goalkeeper.
NEW TO PADDY POWER NEWS?
WELL, HOW DOES £/€20 AFTER SIGNING UP SOUND?
“Sometimes the red mist sets in and angry-Aaron goes full Bruce Lee on somebody. It happened in McDonalds a few weeks ago when the staff forgot to take his gherkins out of his Big Mac. He went mental, delivering a round-house kick directly to the window of the drive-thru.
“We are all very lucky Bowen has the fast reactions of a ninja too and managed to jump out of the way, otherwise Aaron probably would have killed him there and then.”
*Paddy Power News football coverage is 100% fake news – honest*
READ MORE
- Revealed: Elon Musk’s plan to ban post-match apologies from Twitter
- Peter Crouch: ‘When a manager talks about fixture congestion, it can put an excuse in your head’
- Exclusive: Liverpool fan has witty Erik ‘Tenth’ Hag saved in Twitter drafts
- Mindfulness centre helps Man United fans adapt to their team being s***e
- Jamie Redknapp investigates the murky world of football NFTs