Jamie Carragher and Ian Wright have commented on Arsenal’s transfer business, with the Liverpool legend picking Mikel Arteta’s “best decision”.
Arsenal‘s transfer business in the last two windows has held them back this season as they focused on defensive and midfield reinforcements, despite crying out for a new striker.
Injuries have also impacted Arsenal as they have endured a disappointing campaign,sitting second in the Premier League for a third consecutive season.
Their recent business has been sub-par, but they were pretty faultless in previous windows under Mikel Arteta and former sporting director Edu, with David Raya one of their best signings.
Arteta took a risk when he pursued Raya as former No.1 Aaron Ramsdale barely put a foot wrong, but the Spaniard has been phenomenal as this “brave” signing has been justified.
Carragher has lauded Raya for his performances this season, while Wright has revealed his verdict on whether he’s been Arsenal’s best player this term.
“I picked Alisson as the best goalkeeper in the Premier League this season but I was very close to picking David Raya,” Carragher said on The Stick to Football podcast.
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“Alisson had that performance against PSG and that was one of the best we’ve seen from a goalkeeper so maybe that stuck in my head.
“But Raya probably had five or six world-class saves this season. There was one against Aston Villa and Ollie Watkins but it was that long ago that it feels like last season.
“That was one of the best decisions Mikel Arteta made, it was brave because Aaron Ramsdale was a bit of a fans’ favourite but Arsenal were never going to win anything big with him in goal.
“They haven’t done that with Raya yet either by the way but it was a good decision.”
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Arsenal legend Ian Wright also heaped praise on Raya and said he has been arguably the club’s best player this season.
“He looked a little bit shaky the other day [in the 1-0 win over Newcastle United] but then he made a couple of great saves,” Wright said.
“When you consider what Arsenal have done this season with so many draws, I don’t know where we would be without him.”
On who should win Arsenal’s Player of the Season award, Wright added: “It’s one of them two. It’s tough to go against Declan but I can see it with Raya as well.
‘Declan has done so much this season and been 8/10 almost every game but Raya not playing would have caused us a lot of problems.”
Wright has also picked out “the worry” Arsenal’s hierarchy will have about signing a striker this summer.
“I think that the worry [for Arsenal] more than anything is that you can go out there and pay 60, 70, 80 for a striker and it doesn’t work,” Wright claimed.
“I don’t think Arsenal can afford to get that striker that doesn’t hit the ground running for them.
“They have to get the one that they want, and maybe that is what Mikel is doing, and in the meantime, he’s trying to get by and again we’ve fallen short of it.”