Ramsdale ranks the biggest wind-up merchants including Richarlison and Arteta

Love him or loathe him, Aaron Ramsdale has to be one of the best wind-up merchants in the Premier League right now.

But when it comes to rating which of football’s stars are the biggest nuisances, it turns out the Arsenal goalkeeper doesn’t see himself as the biggest wind-up in the sport.

Instead, he’s revealed in a video with ESPN that he sees other Premier League stars and legends as being more worthy of the wind-up merchant crown.

Armed with a laptop and a diagram with five tiers starting with ‘Actually… he’s a good lad’ and ending with ‘Master of the dark arts’, Ramsdale was tasked with placing eight stars into the different ratings.

And straight off the bat, the 24-year-old placed a Premier League icon into the top tier of the rankings – Leicester’s Jamie Vardy.

“He’s one of the GOATs I think,” the Arsenal No.1 said, “He smashed up a corner flag when he scored against me in the last minute.

“So thanks for reminding me about that!”

Next up was Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, who stole the headlines when Argentina won the 2022 World Cup for doing an… interesting gesture with his golden glove award.

After laughing at the screen, Ramsdale says: “Wind-up merchant. He knows how to get under people’s skin. Sometimes it’s to his advantage, sometimes it’s not.

“It can either bite you in the bum or work in your favour. There’s been times where it works in his favour. I think he’s a wind-up merchant.”

But when it came to his manager Mikel Arteta, Ramsdale clearly isn’t buying into the narrative that the Spaniard can be a nuisance on the touchline.

Placing him into the category ‘actually… he’s a good lad’, he says: “I think that says it all. I’m not going to say my manager is a pain in the backside or a cheeky scally am I?!”

The same rule applied when he had to place himself on the wind-up merchant scale, as Ramsdale believes his teasing of away fans didn’t warrant him a place high up the scale.

So if he doesn’t see himself as the no. 1 wind-up merchant, who does he believe deserves that title?

Well it turns out Ramsdale is convinced one man is the ultimate GOAT of football nuisances – current Roma manager Jose Mourinho.

From ear-cupping to Juventus fans to kicking water bottles in the dugout, the ex-Chelsea and Spurs boss loves to wind his opponents up.

“I think he was the first one ever,” Ramsdale said, “Master of the dark arts. I think he taught [Sergio] Ramos everything he knows.”

When asked who was the biggest wind-up merchant, Ramsdale replied: “Oh, Jose. Has to be.”