Arsenal and Brentford have reached an agreement for the transfer of David Raya, with the north London club set to pay around £30 million for the goalkeeper.
Arsenal’s move to sign Raya, a long-term target, comes after they sanctioned the departure of Matt Turner to Nottingham Forest in a deal that could be worth up to £10 million.
Raya will come in as competition for Aaron Ramsdale, who now faces a fight to keep hold of the No 1 shirt at the Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal first tried to sign Raya in the summer of 2020 and their goalkeeper coach, Inaki Cana, has previously worked with the Spaniard at Brentford.
In a recent interview with ITV, Ramsdale was asked about the possibility of another goalkeeper coming into the club.
“Bring it on,” Ramsdale said. “Nothing comes easy in football. At the same time you need to move along and adapt as well.
“I’ve done it to other people when I’ve moved clubs. So I’m not going to be thinking that’s it’s never going to happen to me. If it happens, it happens and then we’ll fight and we’ll make each other the best version of ourselves because that’s what the manager is telling us as well.
“And I’m sure whoever plays, me or whoever comes in, the goalkeeping union people laugh at but it’s a real thing and your individual disappointment will go away. You will put the team first and you’ll put that goalkeeper first as well.”
The imminent arrival of Raya will take Arsenal’s summer spending to around £230 million. He will be their fourth signing, after Declan Rice, Kai Havertz and Jurrien Timber.
The priority for Arsenal will now be to sell unwanted players, with Folarin Balogun the most likely to generate a significant fee. AS Monaco and Inter Milan are both interested in the striker.
Meanwhile, Brentford have made an offer of around £26 million for Fiorentina winger Nicolas Gonzalez.
Brentford have been keen to further strengthen their attack this summer and have been attempting to sign Brennan Johnson from Nottingham Forest.
Gonzalez, 25, has 24 caps for Argentina and scored 14 goals in all competitions last season.
