David Raya of Arsenal celebrates with the winners medal after the Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Arsenal at Selhurst Park.
Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images
David Raya might be a mainstay of the Arsenal team right now but recent comments about his dream to play in La Liga will have some worried.
Raya has been sensational for the Gunners in recent seasons and firmly established himself as one of the premier goalkeepers in Europe.
However, Raya recently admitted he very much sees himself in La Liga at some point in his career, a comment which has seen Arsenal cast eyes over Leonard Prescott at Bayern Munich.
Losing Raya either now or in the near future would be a blow for the Gunners. But according to former England stopper Joe Hart, Arsenal fans should be calm for now.
Joe Hart backs David Raya to stay at Arsenal
“I think that’ll be an isolated quote, won’t it? I think I’ve heard him talk about Arsenal. I’ve heard him talk endlessly about how much he loves the club, how much he loves Mikel, how much he loves the fans,” Hart commented on The Overlap.
“Now, when you’re getting interviewed as much as David Raya is right now, you know, he’s one of the best goalkeepers in the world. He’s one of the leading men for Arsenal.
“You’re going to say a lot of things. And it is he’s he’s only speaking honestly, you know? Just because he’s an Arsenal player at the moment doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have aspirations or in his whole life that he plans he doesn’t want to rule out playing in Spain. But I’m telling you right now, he absolutely adores that club, and he plays he plays like it, and he represents Arsenal incredibly, so I wouldn’t want any Arsenal fan to read that quote and and all of a sudden think I’ve little bit of a negative blotch on something that’s going so well.”
With Raya still very much in his prime as a goalkeeper, Arsenal will hope to keep hold of the Spaniard for years to come.
Nevertheless, succession planning is key and as we saw with Aaron Ramsdale previously, Mikel Arteta is not afraid to make a big call when it comes to his number one. Furthermore, we’ve seen Man City do this with Ederson, bringing in Gianluigi Donnarumma as a direct and improved replacement.
Despite what Hart says here, Arsenal need to have an eye on the future as well.