Raya makes £27m Arsenal move after season on loan

Arsenal have activated the £27m option to permanently buy Brentford goalkeeper David Raya after his successful loan spell last season.

Raya, 28, kept 16 Premier League clean sheets for the Gunners to win the Golden Glove, conceding just 16 league goals in the campaign.

Arsenal already had a settled keeper in Aaron Ramsdale, who had played all 38 of their matches the previous season, keeping 14 clean sheets, but boss Mikel Arteta opted for a new option.

In August, the Spaniard signed a new two-year contract with the Bees before joining the Gunners on a season-long loan.

“After a year on loan as a Gunner, I can finally say that I’m an Arsenal player for the coming years,” said Raya.

“I’m excited to see what the future holds but always living in and enjoying the present.”

Arteta added: “He is a big presence in our dressing room and we are pleased to keep working with him.

“We know he will take the strong foundations he put in place last season and build on them in the years to come, and that he will enjoy more success with us.”

Raya had an underwhelming start to the season, with his lowest point coming after making two errors in Arsenal’s last-gasp 4-3 win over Luton in December.

But he ended up missing only two league matches, when he was ineligible to face his parent club Brentford.

Raya, who was praised by Arteta for his passing out from the back, ended any doubt about his position in March when he saved two penalties as Arsenal beat Porto in a shootout to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

This made him the first goalkeeper to make at least two saves in a Champions League shootout since Petr Cech for Chelsea in the 2012 final.Raya was named in Spain’s Euro 2024 squad, however he remains behind first-choice goalkeeper Unai Simon.

Raya kept a clean sheet in his only Euro 2024 appearance against Albania, with Spain rotating for their final group-stage victory after already qualifying for the knockouts.