David Raya left Rovers in 2019 (Image: PA)
David Raya left Rovers in 2019 (Image: PA)
David Raya is a Premier League winner and has played in the Champions League final – but his career might have gone differently if not for one of his coaches at Rovers.
John Keeley played a big role in Raya’s development at Ewood Park and ultimately helped him break into the first team.
“I don’t know what, but he saw something in me since the first day,” the goalkeeper told Beyond the Box.
“He took me to Portugal with the first team when I was 17, for no reason. I think he saw something in me that not all the people saw.
“He put a lot of work in me and he was one of the reasons I went on loan, why I made my debut, why I started the following season as number one.
“He believed in me and I always have a lot to thank him for. Without him, I don’t think I would have made my debut.”
Raya made his Championship debut against Leeds United at Elland Road, although things could have been different if not for a bizarre training injury.
“We had Liverpool on the Tuesday in the FA Cup, I was cup tied, and we were playing Leeds on the Saturday,” he recalled.
“On the Friday, Simon Eastwood gets ‘red a****’ and tweaks his knee. We were playing two touch and if you lost, you got red a****. I think nowadays, you can’t do that!”
The Spaniard continued: “In the morning I am thinking, ‘I am going to be on the bench for the first time’.
“The gaffer and John Keeley call me in the morning after breakfast. ‘Do you want to play today?’… ‘Yes’.
“If something happened to Steeley (Jason Steele) and Easty wasn’t ready to play against Liverpool, we had no keeper because I was cup tied.”
It was a daunting environment to step into as a 19-year-old but Raya’s loan at Southport had prepared him for the challenge ahead.
“The experiences I had with Southport - going into a new dressing room and learning that I owed them something - getting to the third round of the FA Cup, which was the biggest game I had played so far and the biggest game Southport had played so far,” he said.
“It got my brain to know, ‘It is just another game’. We ended up winning 3-0 at Elland Road and trust me, that is not an easy place to make your debut. The fans at Leeds are tough, especially if they know you are making your debut, you are 19.”
David Raya holding the Premier League trophy
The goalkeeper became Premier League winner (Image: PA)
The shot stopper played a few more games in the league, but it wasn’t until the relegation to League One that he became established as number one.
“After my debut, I played the first five games of the season in 2015/16 and then didn’t play a single league game until 18 months later when Steeley got injured on his ankle, and I played the last five games when we got relegated,” he explained.
“I think I did well and Mowbray wanted me to stay as number one in League One, that was when I established myself in that way.
“Coming from the Academy and then playing for the first team is something that fills you up – ‘I came Under-16 and now I’m in the first team, helping the team go back to the Championship’.
“We did it in the first season in League One. Establishing myself in the Championship, that was a bigger ask in a way because you are fighting to stay or you are fighting to get promoted to the Premier League.
“You are one step from greatness, in a way, and one step from going back to League One. We had a really good squad in League One and we had a similar squad in the Championship. We did very well to stay up.”
Brentford came calling in the summer of 2019 and it wasn’t an easy decision, but Raya felt like he needed a new challenge after his long association with Rovers.
“The decision going to Brentford was, my relationship with the boss at Blackburn had kind of broken a bit. It wasn’t the same, and I needed another challenge,” he recalled.
“Coming from the Academy and playing for the first team, it fills you up. But then the downside is where you feel you are not appreciated in a way.
“Brentford wanted me to go there with Inaki (Cana). The same as Keelo, he saw something in me when we played them in the Championship.
“At the start, I know Brentford wasn’t keen on me because I am not tall enough. But Inaki was pushing to get me, so I ended up going there.
“I needed something else, a different challenge, a change of city and being by myself again down in London.
“Up in Blackburn, I had my English family, my friends and maybe moving down South was that switch of, ‘I have to do it by myself’. It was the best thing I have done in a way because Brentford was perfect for me.”