Summary Arsenal are reportedly in the race to sign goalkeeper David Raya, who prefers a move to Arsenal over Bayern Munich. Arsenal's transfer window has been successful, improving their starting eleven and securing first-team player contracts. Raya has been a consistent performer for Brentford and has impressive statistics in terms of his ratings and underlying numbers. His distribution skills are highly praised.
Arsenal have "entered the race" to sign Brentford's highly rated goalkeeper David Raya, with the Spaniard now preferring a move to "Arsenal over Bayern", per transfers expert Fabrizio Romano.
Are Arsenal signing David Raya this summer?
The Gunners have had an outstanding transfer window so far this summer. The club have dramatically improved the quality of their starting eleven with the signings of Kai Havertz, Jurrien Timber and Declan Rice – breaking the transfer record for a British player along the way.
Alongside these brilliant signings, Mikel Arteta has secured the long-term futures of several first-team stars, such as Bukayo Saka, William Saliba, and Aaron Ramsdale.
That said, the former Bournemouth man's future may be a little less clear with the recent news that the north Londoners have joined the race to land the much-sought-after Raya.
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According to The Guardian, Arsenal are set to make an offer for the 27-year-old after Bayern Munich's loan offer was rejected, with the idea being that he would compete for the number one spot with current shot-stopper Ramsdale.
The Premier League runners-up have already spoken to the player and are now his preferred destination over the Bundesliga champions, per transfers expert Fabrizio Romano.
He explained the situation on his YouTube channel, saying:
"Arsenal have entered the race. Arsenal had contacts with the camp of David Raya, and they are considering making a bid very soon; there is still no-bid, but they could beat very soon for David Raya.
"Yes, to create competition with Aaron Ramsdale. Of course, Ramsdale is the first goalkeeper, but in case they bring in Raya, this could be a possibility to create competition between the two goalkeepers. Something to add from what I'm hearing, David Raya prefers Arsenal over Bayern for many reasons, but he would love to join Arsenal.
"It's important to say that already some discussions took place discussing about the contract and this kind of things, so Arsenal already discussed some details on the player side, [and] now [it] depends on the clubs."
How good is David Raya?
One of the constants in Brentford's meteoric rise from the Championship over the last four seasons has been that of Raya. Since moving to West London in the 2019/20 season, he has started at least 24 league games, starting all 38 last year.
Across those four years with the Bees, he has never achieved a season rating lower than 6.66, reaching a seriously impressive 6.97 last campaign, per WhoScored.
His underlying numbers are just as impressive as well, with FBref, which compares players in a similar position across Europe's top five leagues, placing the Spaniard in the top 6% for touches, the top 7% for crosses stopped, the top 8% for save percentage, and the top 15% for launch percentage and average length of goal kicks, all per 90.
His ability with the ball at his feet clearly left an impact on Steven Drench, who worked with him at the Blackburn Rovers academy, as he waxed lyrical about him, saying:
"His distribution is a major plus point, and being at Brentford with the style of football they play, he suits them. But he could go into any team in the top leagues in Europe and fit in quite well with the confidence he has on the ball.
"He's like an extra outfield player."
It'll be interesting to see how Ramsdale reacts to the competition should the Gunners complete the signing, but adding Raya to your team can only be a good thing.
