Raya is a goalkeeper who has big admirers in the industry
Arsenal have been actively pursuing a deal to sign Brentford’s David Raya in the last few days.
Currently personal terms are being ironed out and once that is done, the London side will launch a first bid for the 27-year-old.
Many have been left surprised by this deal, as they believe the Gunners already have three very good shot-stoppers at their disposal.
But manager Mikel Arteta seems far from happy. He wants to take every opportunity that is out there to elevate the level of the club he also represented as a captain.
Understand Arsenal have made contact with David Raya’s camp to start talks on salary — as player prefers Arsenal over Bayern as destination 🔴⚪️🇪🇸
Discussions are taking place, no issues with Raya but key point will be between clubs as Brentford always insisted on £40m fee. pic.twitter.com/IttkQIo6ob
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 31, 2023
If Arsenal sign Raya they would boast two world class keepers in their ranks. The Spaniard can certainly not be considered a “second choice.”
If you look at his stats, a lot of the figures score higher than Arsenal’s current number one Aaron Ramsdale. And you don’t need to just look at the data to know that Raya is world class and at the peak of his powers.
Here’s the comment that Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp made in 2021, when Raya gave a standout performance at The Anfield. “The goalkeeper could have the shirt with No 10,” the Reds boss said. “He played a few incredible balls, but it was the right thing to do against us today.”
David Raya’s performance with his feet in Brentford’s thrilling 3-3 draw against Liverpool in September 2021.
Jürgen Klopp: “The goalkeeper could have the shirt with #10. He played a few incredible balls but it was the right thing to do against us.” #afc pic.twitter.com/LrLJ9ZkHRI
— afcstuff (@afcstuff) July 31, 2023
While PSG’s manager Luis Enrique, who was previously the head coach of Raya’s national team Spain said, “He is a player who is doing very well. I really want to see it in the context of the selection. He has the necessary profile to play with us.”
His own manager at Brentford, Thomas Frank, was full of praise for the Spanish international, when they made a 4-1 comeback win against then leaders Norwich in the Championship two seasons back. “We needed a top goalkeeper, and our goalkeeper is one of the best in the division, possibly the best,” said the Danish tactician.
David Raya led Premier League goalkeepers in these four stats last season 🧤 pic.twitter.com/sRyqxY1hlz
— ESPN UK (@ESPNUK) July 31, 2023
There is no wonder why Arsenal are so determined to land Raya this summer. He comes with bags of ability and experience and has only one year left on his deal.
The longer this saga stretches, the lighter Brentford’s stance of getting £40 million for their star keeper will get. But the Gunners just need to be aware of foreign interest in him.
Because if another club enters the race to sign the shot-stopper, the club might be forced to take out some extra notes than they would have liked to do, initially.
Writer – Yash Bisht
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I sincerely admire ARTETA’s Ruthlessness and audacity. His pragmatism is second to none. ARTETA means well for this football club. Just the errors from preseason matches by Ramsdale forced ARTETA into getting a new shot-stopper. I like what am seeing from the Gaffer. We will not condone any form of laxity and complacency, gone are the days of Mediocrity and nonchalancy .
Coyg!!!
Raya is the real deal if he signs and play in cup games and Champions League then their is high chances of arsenal picking one or two of those cups or even all when it comes to penalties i will trust him more than Ramsdale to save two or three penalties.
In Cup games? If he joins then he will be Number 1 and it will be Ramsdale playing in the cups.
To suggest that Ramsdale and Raya are both “world class”is a massive overstatement in that neither is even first choice for their Countries.There are very few truly “world class” keepers around and Liverpool , Man City, and Real Madrid are fortunate to each have one in their ranks.
Belgium has no other option in their team other than Courtois unlike Brazil, England and Spain who have lots of quality goalkeepers each country having at least two or more and always when it comes to coaches they always have fevourites,Ramsdale and Raya are not first choice in their countries that doesn’t mean they are avarage goalkeepers Southgate chose Maguire ahead of Tomori,Ben White,Chris Smalling,Guehi and Tarkosky yet those players are by far better than Maguire reason his because it’s is fevourite same with Pickford he was leaking in goals and making more errors than Ramsdale yet he his England’s first choice goalkeeper because he is Southgates fevourites their is more but i will choose to stop there.
Grandad their is that notion were goalkeepers will be considered world class if they only play for top teams like Bayern,Barcelona,Real Madrid, Liverpool,Man city, Juventus which i think is wrong to me i personally rate Raya More than Ederson of Man city Ter steken of Barcelona and put him on the same level as Alison and Courtois if he is not ahead of them.
Naftali,you are preaching to the converted with your views concerning the choice of Maguire ahead of other centre backs although I personally do not rate Tarkowski nor for that matter Coady who ,until recently was favoured by the England Manager.With regard to Raya, I rate him highly and consider him a better keeper than Ramsdale, but that does not make him “world class” He has virtually all the attributes needed to make a top quality stopper but he does not command the box at free kicks and corners where he is dependent on the giants played at the back by Brentford to ease his burden.The three world class keepers I mentioned graduated from smaller Clubs to Liverpool ,City and Madrid having served notice of their qualities before they became household names to fans globally.Raya may emulate them with Arsenal or another Club, and I hope he does,As to the definition of “world class” the best description of that overused term was made by a highly respected Scottish journalist who is no longer with us who suggested that “world class” in the context of football, ought to be restricted to players who would be in contention to be included in the “best eleven” on the Planet.With the utmost respect to Ramsdale and Raya, I very much doubt if they would be considered for selection at this stage in their careers.Finally,at the present time I cannot identify an English keeper who is currently “world class” and sadly, the same applies to Scotland.
According to you Ederson who is also second choice for his Country is world class. Maybe been a second choice is a matter of coach preference or it just mean someone better is ahead of you and doesn’t necessarily mean you are not world class cos you are second best.
David Ospina made 29 starts in 2013/14 season for Nice before joining Arsenal, earning a 7.19 average match rating from WhoScored for his efforts. He was even more impressive in five starts in the World Cup, helping lead Colombia to the quarterfinals and earning an average 7.26 rating
Frédéric Antonetti, the manager of Nice who brought David Ospina to the club, said, “He has everything you need to be a top goalkeeper. He’s good in the air and he’s good on the ground. He has that little extra something to be a champion”
Wojciech Szczesny vs. David Ospina, 2013/14 Season:
– Szczesny:
37 league games
16 clean sheets
1.11 goals conceded per game
2.05 saves per game
– Ospina:
29 league games
12 clean sheets
0.89 goals conceded per game
2.79 saves per game
I’m not following – if it’s about height, casillas was the same height as ospina and raya, and won everything.
I’m really not sure why ospina is being brought up, he was a different player with his own strengths and weaknesses, regardless of how tall he was.
Some taller gks struggle with crosses – Leno and fabianski for example. It’s much more about judging the flight of the ball than it is about height, because gks can raise their arms above their heads.
Raya’s Brentford teammates usually played in their own area to protect him, whereas Arsenal’s defenders tend to play with high defensive line
Let’s just hope Raya would become as talented as Casillas was
*If we sign him haha
To my mind, dealing with crosses is about judging the flight of the ball first. The deep defence basically reduces the chances of being hit on a counter, so defenders are more likely to be in the box to head it. Maybe that simply reduces the number of times the gk needs to deal with it himself, or even make a decision to come and claim, but if he’s good at judging the flight, and handling the ball, I suppose, it doesn’t make a difference – either the gk is good at it out he isn’t.
When it’s a high line and we get hit on the counter, the gk doesn’t have much to contend with on crosses – if it’s a really good cross, not much he can do, but if its catchable, height doesn’t really come into it too much.
If it’s a crowded box, say from a corner, our defenders should be doing exactly the same as Brentford’s – I don’t see how the distinction matters too much.
If you’re saying raya is poor at dealing with crosses based on observing him dropping the ball or misreading the flight, fair enough – I haven’t seen enough evidence either way, personally, but i don’t watch that many Brentford games – but if the judgement is based on his height and how Brentford plays, I think it’s fair to have doubts, but we should have evidence of him being poor at it?
I think I was just traumatized by Ospina’s performance. Ramsdale has also become shaky after a great start
All great EPL GKs that I watched were huge, such as the Schmeichels, Van der Sar, Lehmann, Seaman, Courtois and Cech. This is why I really doubt Raya
Yash, the issue is that we do not have “three very good shot stoppers” at our disposal. One, if you count Turner, who’s quite good at this part of his game, but Ramsdale is poor in this respect & I’ve hardly seen Hein play, so can’t comment on his performances.
And Raya “world-class”? If only!
The arrival of Raya is primarily to give all keepers a reason and a drive to improve their game. If Raya believes he can oust Ramsdale from the number one spot, great! Equally, Ramsdale will have to improve his game too if he wants to remain number one. With the added bonus of having Turner as a third keeper who is also fighting for a place, things can only get better.
Let’s not forget that each of them are not expensive (compared to other keepers). So the financial outlay is good for the club and better for the players involved who will surely want to be on the team sheet every week! Eventually, one of the will be more regular and in theory, a better keeper!?
Saying Raya is world class is pushing the envelope a little.
Think what the gaffer is seeing from Timber is help stirring up his intrest in Raya, though Ramsdale keeping falling asleep at his near post not helping his cause.
One thing for sure we are going to see a different animal’s in Ramsdale as even me is a little worried by the gaffer’s intrest in Raya.
I like the Englishman , but the gaffer has given the Kroenke his idea of what phase 4 should be and he won’t take any prisoners.
What again is phase 4? people are just funny
Please let me a link where any person from the club talked about this I am interested in knowing about this
A true world-class keeper has just retired at 45, Gianluigi Buffon of Parma. Had his first full international game aged just 19.
He was indeed “world class” Jax.What a career.
I don’t really know what to think or say about the imminent coming of David Raya to Arsenal but I do strongly believe that Ramsdale is going to up his game and take it to the level we’ve never seen as soon as this competition between him and Raya begins. This competition is therefore going to be good for the club. Aside this, my concern is about out striking position. Gebriel Jesus is injured and I know for sure that Nketiah and Balogun cannot carry us for the time being. We may believe that his injury is for a short period and we forget that sometimes, there’re stories of relapses after healing, this may automatically cause a player to spend more time on the treatment table, spending more time than the stipulated time. It is better for the manager and club to act pro actively now and bring in a striker who is decent and prolific enough to take Gabriel Jesus’s place. Depending on Nketiah and Balogun will be unreasonable