For the better part of 13 years, Andrew Redmayne was asking himself whether he was good enough to play for Arsenal. On Thursday night, he found out that he apparently was.
After putting in a man-of-the-match display against the club he spent weeks on trial with as a teenager, Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger admits the club made a mistake in not signing Redmayne when they had the chance.
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"I would say the goalkeeper was man of the match," Wenger said. "I don't remember [if he trialled with Arsenal], I have to say it's such a long time ago. But, if he was with us, we made a mistake."
Redmayne appeared a man possessed, pulling-off a string of fine saves including denying England international Danny Welbeck from the spot in Sydney's 2-0 loss to Arsenal to make a major road to cementing a first team spot for the Sky Blues and reminding the Gunners on what they missed out on.
As a 15-year-old, Redmayne travelled to North London to train with the Gunners and impressed sufficiently that he was informally offered a chance to sign with them permanently by then academy director, Liam Brady. It was followed up by an email informing them the deal would be signed and sealed in Hong Kong, due to logistics while Arsenal's youth team were due to play in a tournament.
However, days before he left, the club reneged on the offer having instead signed Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny, who went on to play for Arsenal's senior team and AS Roma.
Sydney FC coach Graham Arnold praised Redmayne's performance against Arsenal and says it's opened the door for him to replace Belgium-bound Danny Vukovic as their No.1 goalkeeper.
"I've always had a lot of faith in Andrew Redmayne. I think he's copped a bit of harsh criticism over the last couple of years but I think two years ago he helped the Wanderers to a grand final as number one keeper," Arnold said.
![Mistake: Legendary Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, pictured at ANZ Stadium on Thursday night, said the club made an error ...](http://web.archive.org./web/20170714051438im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/a/x/d/x/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gxaxcu.png/1499982852966.jpg)
Redmayne was taken aback when told of the individual praise Wenger reserved for him, including suggesting Arsenal should have kept him on board following his man of the match performance.
"I guess it's pretty exciting. But it's always good to play well and in the first game of the year and I'm sure I can build on that and get on a roll," he said.
![Redmayne in action against Arsenal on Thursday night during what was arguably a man-of-the-match performance.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170714051438im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/a/x/d/q/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gxaxcu.png/1499982852966.jpg)
The 28-year-old joined Sydney FC from their cross-town rivals, Western Sydney, and is now targeting becoming the Sky Blues' first-choice goalkeeper following Vukovic's sale to Genk last month.
"Yeah why not, like I said, it's still along way to go," he said. "It's a great club to be at. the support from the boys is amazing, theres a great camaraderie in the team. I've thoroughly enjoyed my six months at the club so far, working with the staff here, Arnie, [goalkeeping coach John] Crawley, It's just thoroughly enjoyable… I'm just happy with my life and I think that just shows on the field when you're more relaxed and positive."