Arsenal may have kept faith with Bernd Leno as their first-choice goalkeeper this season, but they may still face decisions in that area of the pitch.
Emiliano Martinez was sold to Aston Villa, and replacement Runar Runarsson quickly showed that he wasn’t suitable as second choice, meaning the Gunners had to dip back into the market in January for Mat Ryan.
The summer is approaching, so what now? Surely Runarsson won’t be second choice, and who knows whether they will want to sign Ryan permanently.
Leno isn’t safe either; yes, he’s largely been fairly reliable, but some patchy displays of late mean Arsenal could be tempted to sign a goalkeeper to really challenge him.
Some want to see a younger goalkeeper arrive, possibly Leno’s eventual heir, and one name that featured prominently on Arsenal’s list last summer was Brentford stopper David Raya.
Arsenal’s goalkeeping coach Inaki Cana worked with Raya at Brentford, and his influence is pretty clear given that he worked with Runarsson at Nordsjaelland in Denmark.
In fact, Raya praised Cana just a matter of days ago, hailing his compatriot in The Independent for helping develop his game in West London.
The 25-year-old former Blackburn Rovers stopper has been one of the Championship’s top goalkeepers in recent times, and he would certainly cost eight figures if Arsenal wanted to push for a deal.
Arsenal wanted Raya last summer, and The Telegraph suggested in January that a new summer bid for the Spaniard could be on the cards as the Gunners refuse to give up.
However, Raya produced some bizarre goalkeeping against Huddersfield Town on Saturday, coming off his line before being left in no man’s land as Lewis O’Brien capitalised with a goal.
Arsenal fans saw the error, and have been taking to Twitter to tell the Gunners not to even dare signing Raya this summer, believing that he just isn’t good enough whilst praying no deal is done.
Some are relieved that a deal didn’t happen, but really hope that he isn’t targeted again this summer having seen his error.
Others worry about the idea of both Raya and Runarsson at the club, and whilst that didn’t happen last summer, don’t rule out both of them being at Arsenal next term.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
