LONDON: Arsenal have completed the signing of David Raya from Brentford initially on a loan deal with an option to buy on Tuesday.
Raya has been an integral cog in Brentford’s machine for the past seasons. Hew featured in all 38 of their Premier League matches last season.
The 27-year-old keeper has 20 clean sheets to his name in 62 Premier League games, and he has made a total of 161 appearances in all competitions for the Bees and has two caps for Spain.
Gunners sporting director Edu welcomed Raya and said as quoted from the club’s official website, “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.”
The structure of the deal has been a bit striking for many, Brentford director of football Phil Giles talked about the structure of the deal and said, “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.”
“David’s contract extension is a fall-back position in the event that the transfer is not made permanent. I’m not expecting to see David back at Brentford, although if ever that happened then of course the opportunity to work with such a high-class goalkeeper for up to two more years would in many ways be an unexpected bonus for us,” Giles added. (ANI)