The signing of David Raya by Arsenal has sparked questions and discussions, with Darren Bent joining the chorus of voices expressing curiosity about the decision.
While Arsenal had previously invested significantly in acquiring Aaron Ramsdale, who has established himself as one of the top goalkeepers in England in recent seasons, the club still proceeded to secure the services of Spanish goalkeeper Raya from Brentford.
This move has raised eyebrows due to the fact that Arsenal now possesses two goalkeepers of high quality, both seemingly capable of being a number-one choice. Traditionally, many top clubs around the world have a single top-class goalkeeper in their ranks, making Arsenal’s approach somewhat unconventional.
Given the circumstances, Bent has voiced his surprise and bewilderment at the decision.
He said, as quoted by The Sun:
“Raya is a strange one because he’s going to come and be number two behind Ramsdale.
“When I look at David Raya as a goalkeeper, he could potentially to so many different places and become their number one.
“I thought he could have gone to Chelsea, Spurs and he was linked to Bayern Munich so it’s strange on his part.
“I guess for Arsenal they want to try and bring in two good quality players for every position.
“If you want to challenge and be at the top of the Premier League and challenging in Europe then you need to have a strong squad.”
Just Arsenal Opinion
Raya and Ramsdale will compete for the number one spot and only one person can be in goal during league matches.
The other would be given the responsibility in cup games and that should be one reason for Arsenal fans to be excited.
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Yes its certainly against conventional wisdom, that’s the big difference between today hungry managers like Arteta as opposed to even Wenger, the legendary Frenchman would never shook the boat so hard.
Why 1 PL matches and the other cup matches?
Why not the most in form plays, and when he struggles he is replaced until he earns back the spot?
I’ve never been a fan of guaranteed starts and like to see players in form playing. Dropping Trossard when Jesus was healthy was a great example.
Survival of the fittest, rise to the occasion or wallow in mediocrity, champions are made not born.
@Durand: I like your thinking. This approach will make Arsenal great again and will help drive out mediocrity among players.
Aaron Ramsdale himself came in at Arsenal when Bend Leno was generally doing very well. But when Ramsdale proved to be a serious upgrade, he became a regular No 1. So Ramsdale really knows how the system works with MA.
In any case, it may well be that MA still wanted Leno to remain at Arsenal. But he chose to leave and was never really replaced. That replacement might be happening now to serve the original purpose in the manager’s preferred system.
The idea of an irreplaceable number 1 should be done away with imo. Every position needs competition and a solid backup. And I think Arteta is bringing Raya for a very cautious reason. Arteta is going all in for the title this season and he has seen last season how Saliba getting injured basically eneded any title hopes. He doesn’t want that repeated. And the only position it can be repeated is if Ramsdale gets injured and Arteta doesn’t want that. I think Raya will not be with us next season as Arteta does believe in Ramsdale to be the number 1, but this season, Arteta doesn’t want to have any loop holes anywhere in the squad.