Explained: Why Aaron Ramsdale was dressed as Harry Potter character Hagrid during Southampton signing announcement as Arsenal outcast completes much-needed transfer

Southampton confirmed the £25 million ($33m) signing of the England international via their social media channels on Friday. The Premier League side referenced the Harry Potter character Hagrid in the caption of their post, writing: "Yer a Saint, [Aaron Ramsdale]", showing the goalkeeper sign his contract in disguise before he tore off the wig and beard.

Ramsdale's costume was a nod to his appearance at Wembley to watch Southampton win their Championship play-off final against Leeds in May. The shot stopper was in the stands dressed as Hagrid as he watched his friend and former Bournemouth team-mate David Brooks in action for the Saints. He revealed that it was part of a friendly tradition, saying: "Any time one of our friends get to Wembley we do fancy dress, it's something we've done and we've won three times from it so we're not gonna break from tradition now."

He added: "I think the first year we did Teletubbies, the other year we did wrestlers - I went as old school Kane. We had a mask but I had a little leotard on. It's just something we did. [This year] It was a toss-up between Toy Story and wizards and the Toy Story outfits wouldn't have come in time so we chose wizards. We had a Dumbledore, we had a Harry, we had a Ron Weasley, we had two deatheaters. So I thought 'Why not go as Hagrid?'"

Ramsdale's transfer to St Mary's Stadium puts an end to a mixed spell for the goalkeeper at Arsenal. The 26-year-old joined the north London club from Sheffield United in 2021 and enjoyed two full seasons as the club's first choice goalkeeper under Mikel Arteta. That all changed heading into the 2023-24 campaign, though, when David Raya was brought in on loan from Brentford and became the regular starting shot-stopper as Ramsdale was left on the bench.

Ramsdale has signed a four-year contract with Southampton and will hope to make a quick return to regular first-team football as the newly-promoted side look to avoid relegation back to the Championship.