ARSENAL star Aaron Ramsdale has donated 40 Premier League match balls to Fred Barber’s soccer school worth up to £4,000.
The England keeper, 24, delivered the kind gesture to his former childhood coach as costs spiralled following Covid.
Aaron Ramsdale has donated 40 Premier League match balls to a football school
Former Bolton goalkeeper coach Barber, 59, said: “Aaron was good enough to give money towards footballs for the kids now.
“We were struggling for balls, they are expensive and the schools have put the prices of the pitches up since Covid.
“I spoke to Aaron’s dad Nick and he said Aaron would sort something out.
“I got 40 proper Premier league match balls. They cost about £100.
“It was a good gesture. He didn’t have to do it. He hasn’t forgotten where he has come from.”
Barber has also spoken of the first time he saw the Arsenal star play, when he was just a 10-year-old boy.
He said: “I first saw Aaron when he was 10 at my Friday hourly sessions. He was a skinny kid, a little runt. He had a cheeky face and I liked that because I was a character too.
“I treated the kids like professional keepers and you either worked hard or thought, ‘this is too hard and drift off’.
“Some keepers would be sick because the drills pushed them to the limits.
“As a coach I was trying to find out how far they could go and what they were made of.
“It didn’t frighten Aaron. His attitude was brilliant. The more I pushed him the more he wanted it.
“Kids can be emotional but he worked hard. He had that northern grit.”
