One of the Premier League's worst kept secret has been brought to the fore as Arsenal has finally confirmed the signing of David Raya on a permanent deal. Raya had to wait till September 2024 to get his first start for the club following the completion of his loan move from Brentford, and it's fair to say that he never looked back, as he turned out to be one of the standout performers for the club in the campaign that saw Mikel Arteta's men challenge for the Premier League title till the final day of the season.
In 41 appearances for Arsenal, Raya raked up 20 clean sheets, with 16 of them in the Premier League, which earned him the Golden Glove award, making him the last Arsenal goalie to claim the prize since Petr Cech many eons ago. In addition to his goalkeeping prowess, Raya was very good with his feet, attempting 904 passes, with 406 of them being long passes, and had an accuracy of 70.75 percent. He made 46 saves and conceded the least amount of goals (29) in the Premier League.
The permanent deal for Raya pretty much signals the end of Aaron Ramsdale's time in the club, with the England goalie confirming that he's not willing to spend another season on the bench after he was usurped by Raya. With Ramsdale signing a contract extension last year, Arsenal will be hoping to get some big bucks for him, but I wouldn't raise my hopes up because the club is notoriously known for being poor negotiators, especially when it comes to player departures. There will also be the need to find a Ramsdale replacement, even if third choice goalie, Karl Hein, recently extended his stay with the club for the foreseeable future. Give Me Sport reports that Arsenal is targeting Espanyol's 23-year-old goalie, Joan Garcia, as the Englishman's replacement, but we will see more traction on this after the European Championships.
One departure that has been confirmed is young forward, Mika Biereth, that has joined Sturm Graz for a reported PS4 million deal. As you'd expect from any youngster sale, there are some juicy clauses in there which Arsenal will stand to gain when he makes the next big move in his fledgling career. Arsenal recently enjoyed from such a deal when former youngster, Omari Hutchinson, left for Chelsea, only to depart on loan to Ipswich Town, where he played consistently for them in the SkyBet Championship. Following their promotion to the Premier League, Ipswich paid Chelsea PS22 million for the young lad, and Arsenal is set to receive 15 percent of that quid, which is PS3.3 million.
Biereth joined Sturm Graz in the winter transfer window last season, scoring nine goals in 22 appearances, and he impressed the Austrian outfit's higher ups to the point they flew to North London to sit down with Edu Gaspar and the Arsenal negotiation chums. I wish Biereth the very best as he's set to feature in the Champions League this season, and I'm looking forward to his next move and the mulla that will come with it.
Focus will be shifted to the European Championships with undoubtedly the game of the tournament, Spain vs. Germany, scheduled to take place by 5.00pm, then France vs. Portugal by 8.00pm. From an Arsenal perspective, Raya will certainly not start ahead of Unai Simon, but there will be starts for Kai Havertz and William Saliba. Both games will be awesome and I'd enjoy them as the neutral that I am.
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