As The Top Flight has covered, Arsenal are eyeing up a move for Brentford’s David Raya. The deal has begun to advance to the point that the Spanish keeper has agreed to a long-term contract with Arsenal and is pushing for a move. The expectation is that Raya would become a fierce competitor to Arsenal’s current number one, Aaron Ramsdale.
There’s already been a new development in a rapidly evolving situation. Fabrizio Romano is now reporting that Arsenal have sent a formal bid to their fellow London side Brentford. The total package is £23m, including add-ons. The fixed fee from Arsenal in the proposal is £20m. It is yet to be seen how Brentford will respond to the bid.
With Raya pushing for a move and Brentford understanding they will have to cash in this summer, we may be coming close to an agreement. David Raya has just a year left on his contract, and Brentford looks to have already found a replacement for the Spaniard. Mark Flekken, a Dutch international, has joined from Bundesliga side Freiburg.
David Raya is an extremely mobile keeper, who is willing to meet crosses at the edge of the box. He also gets an extremely large number of touches on the ball. He can both play out the back and distribute the ball out long. This skill set does not come at the cost of his shot-stopping, which is also rated very highly.
Raya has been in England since 2012 when he joined Blackburn Rovers’ academy. He has over 200 appearances combined between the EFL Championship and the Premier League. David made his debut for his native Spain last year against Albania in a friendly. He was also on Spain’s World Cup squad in Qatar but was a backup keeper for Unai Simon.