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.
Meanwhile, Italian defender, Riccardo Calafiori, is set to join the Gunners, according to TuttoMercatoWeb. The report said Arsenal have made offers to both the centreback and his Serie A employers, which the Italian club will find ‘impossible to refuse’.
Despite having William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes and even Jurrien Timber and Jakub Kiwior, both of whom can be utilised centrally – at his disposal, the Spanish tactician is keen to bolster his defensive ranks ahead of 2024/25, a season earmarked as another chance to knock Manchester City off their perch.
After finishing five points off the pace in last campaign’s all-intense title race, tightening up their back line could be the difference maker come August. And given how well Calafiori performed in the summer in Germany, combined with his ever-growing status among football’s elite, the Rome-born star could be the perfect acquisition.
