Morning, let’s get into it.
Starting today with the official confirmation of the arrival of David Raya, football’s worst kept secret. Which wasn’t even a secret, I guess. Then, the player’s agent – who is also the agent of goalkeeping coach Iñaki Caña – posted a picture of the two of them at London Colney, after which we had the official announcement from the club.
There were the usual quotes from Edu about why we’ve brought a good player to the squad, before Raya himself spoke, saying:
I’m over the moon to be able to take this challenge in my career and make the step up. I’m really excited to get going and see how the season ends up. I spoke to the boss and he sent me the values of what Arsenal are about.
The way that the club is going, it’s growing even more so it is a beautiful challenge to take and I couldn’t say no.
It was also interesting to hear Brentford’s Director of Football, Phil Giles, answer a question I think many were wondering about – why did they go for an initial loan with option to buy?
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. He is a fantastic human being, and his conduct around the training ground these last few weeks has been, given the uncertainty around his future, absolutely exemplary. We wish him nothing but good luck.
That last part about his character might be part of why they have facilitated this move in a summer when they were initially seeking a £40m for the 27 year old. There are obviously some reasons why the move wouldn’t be made permanent, but in all likelihood that’s what will happen – whether it’s next summer, the next accounting period, or somewhere inbetween. By all accounts Raya is a great professional, and in a situation which has an element of awkwardness to it, that could be useful for all concerned.
Now, the ‘battle’ begins between Raya and Aaron Ramsdale, because Arsenal now have two number 1 quality goalkeepers. Ideally this is a positive situation with both players pushing themselves to be even better, and in the short-medium term I think that’s possible. Both Ramsdale and Raya mentioned the ‘goalkeeper union’, and they know more than you or I exactly how real that is. Healthy competition is good, so I’m fascinated to see how this all plays out in the weeks and months ahead. The longer term implications will become clearer in time.
Elsewhere, there are stories linking Gabriel Magalhaes with a move to Saudi Arabia, which sound somewhat fanciful, but from what I understand the interest from the Saudi side of things is real. Whether or not the player is interested is another thing, and having lost Jurrien Timber for the season (basically), it seems completely absurd that Arsenal would sanction a departure for a player who has been so important and consistent for us.
His run of 73 consecutive Premier League starts ended at the weekend, and while the official explanation was that it was ‘tactical’, the use of that word is sometimes the equivalent of ‘back problem’ to explain a player’s absence. It felt odd to me anyway, but he was on the bench and needed towards the end of the game, so if there was something else going on it can’t have been too serious. I have no idea if there’s a direct connection between him being on the bench and the Saudi interest, but I will say this: last season he and William Saliba developed the best central defensive partnership we’ve had at this club for a long time. For most of the campaign it was arguably the best in the Premier League.
For me, that’s something you build on, not dismantle. Not least when you’ve lost one of your key summer signings and you have to make a decision about whether or not you bring in another defender for cover. You don’t lose another one, especially not for the kind of money that is being mentioned. I saw a fee of £52m reported, but while that would be a healthy profit on what we paid for him, it’s nowhere near his real market value – especially in a window where Chelsea are throwing £60m+ for 19 year olds.
I realise also that what Chelsea do is possibly not reflective of how anyone with brains should operate, but that’s how the market operates. Remember Shaktar Donetsk citing the fee Man Utd paid for Antony as a guide for their valuation of Mudryk? Even go back to PSG paying what they did for Neymar. It was absurd, of course, but it becomes a benchmark. Regardless, I can’t think of any good reason why we’d sell Gabriel, and hopefully we see him and Saliba resume their partnership, because I do think it’s one of the cornerstones of this team.
Right, let’s leave it there for this morning. Have a good one folks.
