David Raya joins on season-long loan

The 27-year-old has been an integral part of the Bees’ team in recent seasons, and played in all 38 of their Premier League matches last season.

Born in Barcelona, David came to England at 16 years old when he signed for Blackburn Rovers as an academy player. A short-term loan to Southport in the National League, promotion to the Championship with Rovers and 108 senior appearances later, saw David depart Lancashire for west London in July 2019.

He’s gone on to make 161 appearances in all competitions for Thomas Frank’s team, and his first season for Brentford ended with his performances being rewarded with the EFL Golden Glove and narrowly missing out on Premier League promotion. He didn’t have to wait too long to play in the top tier of English football, when the following season David played a key role as Brentford beat Swansea City in the 2021 Championship play-off final to secure promotion.

Last year came with great success for David on the international stage; he was called up to represent Spain in March 2022, making his debut in a 2-1 win against Albania. David was then selected for Spain’s 2022 FIFA World Cup squad. The end of the 2022/23 season saw David lift silverware with his country, when Spain beat Croatia on penalties to win the 2023 UEFA Nations League.

Hear David’s thoughts about joining the club in his first interview

Sporting Director Edu said: “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.”

As part of the agreement, there is an option to make the move permanent. 

David will wear the number 22 shirt, and everyone at Arsenal welcomes him to the club.

The loan deal is subject to the completion of regulatory processes.

Find out much more about David’s career to date with these 12 things you might know about him

Copyright 2023 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.

David Raya became our fourth summer signing after making a season-long switch from Brentford, and our cameras followed him from the start of the process to the end to provide a unique perspective on what a player goes through when transferring clubs.

You can ride with the shot-stopper to our training ground and see him meet and greet all the medical and coaching staff, including a reunion with his previous goalkeeping coach Inaki Cana as well as his first interactions with new boss Mikel Arteta and sporting director Edu.

Then he underwent various medical tests including a body scan, and got to meet Win the dog before he was joined by his family for his special moment as he signed his contract - with Mikel surprising David’s 91-year-old grandfather Joaquin with a gift!

With the deal secured, it was onto media duties including photoshoots and interviews to round off a busy day for our new shot-stopper.

See all this and more by pressing play on the video above.

Copyright 2023 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.