The 27-year-old leaves Brentford after two fruitful years and joins the Gunners. Raya, who has 20 Premier League clean sheets under his belt, will compete with England international Aaron Ramsdale for the Number 1 spot.
Arsenal Sporting Director Edu on Raya: “We welcome David to us on a season-long loan from Brentford. David is a top-quality goalkeeper, who has consistently performed to a high level with Brentford in the Premier League.
“With David joining us we are adding quality and depth to our squad so we can perform at the highest possible level in all competitions.”
Originally from Barcelona, Raya moved to England at the age of 16 to join Blackburn Rovers’ academy and was allowed to integrate himself into the Rovers first team after being loaned out to Southport of the national league.
After being acquired by Brentford for £3 million in 2019, Raya went on to become the EPL’s Golden Glove winner and earn promotion to the Premier League with the Bees the following year. Raya also represented Brentford in each of the 38 Premier League games last year.
After completing his medical last week, David Raya will wear the number 22 shirt and will replace Matt Turner. The Spaniard was spotted in the stands at the Emirates on Saturday for the Gunners’ curtain-raiser against Nottingham Forest.
Raya responded, “I’m over the moon to be able to take this challenge in my career and make the step up,” when questioned about the transfer.
Raya added: “I’m really excited to get going and see how the season ends up. I spoke to the boss and he sent me the values of what Arsenal are about. The way that the club is going, it’s growing even more so it is a beautiful challenge to take and I couldn’t say no.
“I’ve seen Arsenal a lot for a lot of years and since [Mikel] came he’s made a massive difference to the style of play and to the club. The way the team plays out of the back, being confident, and taking possession to the other team is the main thing why I fit into the team. I’m going to try and help as much as possible and we’ll see what happens.”
In the event that the transfer was not made permanent, Raya’s contract extension was a “fall-back position,” according to Phil Giles, director of football for Brentford FC, but he added that he was “not expecting to see Raya back at Brentford.”
