Arsenal have secured the services of David Raya from Brentford ahead of the 2023/24 season. The Spaniard will join on loan with a clause that will allow Arsenal to sign him permanently ahead of the 2024/25 season.
This is a sharp departure from the initial plan to acquire the goalkeeper outrightly to become Matt Turner’s replacement after the American number 1 moved to Nottingham Forest early in the week.
The news of Raya’s loan deal was broken by The Athletic, which was surprising as it was initially reported that both Arsenal and Brentford had agreed on a £30 million deal for the Barcelona-born goalkeeper. Now, The Athletic is reporting that Arsenal will only be paying a £3 million loan fee to have him wear their colours for the season and that they can choose to secure his services for £27 million if he impresses enough in his loan spell.
This means that Raya, whose contract with Brentford runs out next summer, will sign an extension with the Bees so that the £27 million buy option can take effect at the end of the season.
It is understood that Raya chose Arsenal because he wanted to reunite with his former goalkeeping coach Inaki Cana, with whom he worked at Brentford before Cana moved to join Mikel Arteta’s coaching staff at Arsenal.
He could have been a Bayern Munich player instead as the German Bundesliga champions were looking to pull off the same deal. Tottenham Hotspur, another interested club, were looking to sign the player outright as a replacement for Hugo Lloris but Raya was not interested in the move.
Raya will join Arsenal as their fourth signing of the summer after Declan Rice, Jurrien Timber and Kai Havertz. However, they have found it difficult to move players on. Granit Xhaka remains their only significant outgoing with others being loan deals for youngsters.
Aaron Ramsdale’s place is under threat as Raya is not intended to be a backup like Matt Turner. The English goalkeeper has needed strong competition for some time and many believe the Spaniard will be that competition. Some, however, believe it is an unnecessary signing.
Speaking on the issue, Gary Neville said: “The things that caused them a problem were minor details in the last 10 games [of last season], but Ramsdale was one of those issues in those last 10 games.
“He was erratic and you can’t have that with a keeper with 10 games to go. You can’t have an erratic goalkeeper.”
