After plenty of speculation during the summer transfer window about Arsenal's interest in Brentford goalkeeper, David Raya, it has now been confirmed that the 27 year old Spaniard will make the move to the Emirates Stadium on a loan to buy basis.
The deal was confirmed on Monday evening, and he makes the move initially on a season long loan with manager Mikel Arteta having a buy clause in place - it is not believed this is an obligated buy clause though - as just prior to the deal going through, Brentford confirmed that he had signed a new two year deal with them to cover all eventualities, although they have stated themselves that they do not expect him to return to the club.
For those fans who like a flutter, if they have a GGBET registration there will likely be a variety of odds available on whether or not this deal ultimately becomes permanent.
He has been handed the No 22 shirt for the remainder of the current campaign and it is believed that initially he will simply serve as competition for current Number 1, England stopper Aaron Ramsdale.
"I'm over the moon to be able to take this challenge in my career and make the step up," said Raya as the deal was announced.
Brentford director of football, Phil Giles, explained that the two year deal was simply a 'fall back' position should the deal not become permanent expected, stating that he was "not expecting to see Raya back at Brentford".
"I'm sure the first question that all Brentford fans will ask is why this transfer has been structured as an initial loan with Arsenal having the option to make it permanent in the future. The answer to that is simply that it enables this deal to be done more rapidly between both clubs, with all parties wanting to make this a permanent transfer as soon as practically possible, whenever that might be."
Raya had a very good season for Brentford last year, helping them to their highest league finish since 1938, but equally Ramsdale was very impressive as they took the runners up spot, and with some fans rising an eyebrow at how we can give them both the kind of game time they would naturally be expecting, former Denmark international stopper Peter Schmeichel, has stated that Arsenal may have caused an unnecessary headache for themselves with this move.
"Ramsdale was fantastic for Arsenal last season; he's brilliant with his feet and he's brilliant with the core business of goalkeeping, he is the best English keeper. The goalkeeper's position is very reactive. You cannot create anything on your own; you have to wait for things to happen. You're now asking your goalkeeper to prove he's better than the other one, that means you now have to go out and do stuff - and you don't want that. It's the one position that you want to be steady. The worst thing is when a goalkeeper tries to do something and it goes wrong. Every time, it's a goal. I don't understand why Arteta would create this potential problem."
There will be Arsenal fans out there who agree with him, but logically from a depth perspective, you can only assume that Arteta is looking for a league starting XI, and then a cup starting XI in an effort to keep people fresher for what will be a long campaign ahead.
