It's fair to say that it's not been the greatest pre-season for Eddie Howe and his Newcastle United side.
Having to deal with the soap opera that Alexander Isak's future has become is a sideshow that the club could well do without, with the start of the Premier League season now just a couple of weeks away.
Terrible pre-season for Newcastle
Of more immediate concern is likely to be the form - or more accurately the lack of it - that the first-team squad have shown in their four pre-season fixtures to date.
Tiredness can't be used as an excuse because the Magpies have rested whilst others have toiled at the Club World Cup, but players have looked lethargic and out of sorts in all four matches.
A 4-0 defeat by Celtic was followed by a 3-2 loss against Arsenal, an embarrassing 1-0 defeat to K-League Stars and a 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur.
With another Champions League campaign ahead, strengthening the squad in all areas was a must this summer.
18-year-old Antonio Cordero is arguably a player for the future rather than the present, and Anthony Elanga, whilst an exciting capture from Nottingham Forest, is the only other outfield player to sign on at St. James' Park thus far.
Ramsdale's signing is healthy competition for Nick Pope
Perhaps the most interesting of the incoming moves is the loan capture of Southampton goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale.
That's because the England stopper will provide some healthy competition for Nick Pope, albeit his signing will demote Martin Dubravka down to third choice.
Aaron Ramsdale Premier League Touches 2024/25Opta by Stats Perform
At 36 years of age, the Slovakian will understand Howe's need to bring in younger faces, with Ramsdale being nine years Dubravka's junior and six years younger than 33-year-old Pope.
The former Arsenal man is just the second keeper in Newcastle's entire history, Pope being the other, to represent the Three Lions, and despite an appalling campaign with the Saints in 2024/25, he's relishing the chance to push his colleague all the way and make the decision as to who is first choice a difficult one.
Reunion with Howe is a delight for the former Arsenal man
"Working with the manager and his coaching staff again was a big draw for me," he was quoted as saying after putting pen to paper.
"They've already had a great influence on my career and the gaffer turned me from a man into a professional footballer at Bournemouth.
"He really showed me the ropes so the manager and his coaching staff were a huge selling point for me to come here."
Since the 2020/21 season, whilst at Sheffield United, Ramsdale has played in 155 games domestically, including for Arsenal and Southampton, and started in all of them.
His 482 saves during that time have come with a regular save percentage in the upper 60% range, and even during 24/25, he kept that up with a 64.9% showing.
Pope isn't done yet
Pope has played just five more games during the same time period, for Burnley and Newcastle, making 479 saves and a best Premier League save percentage of 75.3% in 2020/21.
Although he's dropped off slightly in terms of saves, he remains in the low 70s range.
Ramsdale's 4505 passes since 20/21 is almost 1000 more than Pope (3574), with a 59.4% pass completion (EPL only in 24/25) compared to Pope's 65.3%.
Nick Pope Premier League Passes 2024/25Opta by Stats Perform
If one considers that the former was playing in a relegation-threatened side for most of last season, whilst Pope and his Newcastle colleagues were enjoying a vastly more successful campaign, it puts Ramsdale's figures into perspective.
Not only has he served Howe with aplomb before, but until David Raya was preferred by Mikel Arteta, Ramsdale had also done a more than reasonable job for Arsenal.
Both keepers command their areas
Both are reasonably commanding in their box, with the 27-year-old winning 33 of 38 aerial challenges and 57 from 68 across the area. Pope's 56 won from 66 aerially and 77 from 97 elsewhere in the penalty box compares favourably.
Stats would appear to support that the latter prefers to clear with a punch rather than catch the ball too, as 86 clearances and 13 gathered balls would attest. Dropping the ball on 11 other occasions hasn't directly led to a goal against, but Howe would surely want to see an improvement.
If there's one area of Ramsdale's game that also has to be looked at urgently, it's with the amount of times he's dropped the ball (25), whilst his 61 punches again hint at a preference to clear rather than keep safe.
Safety is surely the name of the game unless there's no other option, with the custodians being steady but not fantastic over the past few seasons.
At least Howe can be reasonably certain that either keeper doesn't tend to cause the defences they've worked behind to panic, even if the penchant for punching away seems a little excessive.
England World Cup duty awaits...
Ultimately, there needs to be a bit more stability and sensible decision making in certain situations if either wants to truly establish themselves.
That competition for the starting berth will be manna from heaven for Howe, who will be looking to encourage it on the training pitch. A healthy rivalry already at international level over the past few years should be easily replicated as a result, and that's a win-win for the manager.
With a World Cup looming at the end of the forthcoming season too, it offers a wonderful opportunity for either keeper to stake a claim to be Jordan Pickford's understudy or Thomas Tuchel's keeper of choice were the Everton man to suffer a loss of form or pick up an untimely injury.
Jason PettigroveFlashscore