Arsenal starter confirms Bayern tried to sign him
· Yahoo Sports
David Raya has confirmed that Bayern Munich tried to sign him between Arsenal’s bids, but he’s very glad he ended up in north London.
Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images
Arsenal had a fairly protracted pursuit of David Raya, initially trying to sign the Brentford goalkeeper in 2020, while the goalkeeper’s team were still playing in the Championship.
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Brentford turned the Gunners down on the basis that they needed him for their promotion push, and when they achieved that promotion in 2021, the transfer became even more complicated.
Raya had a release clause if Brentford stayed in the Championship, but it didn’t apply if they were promoted. That put the move on hold until 2023, at which point Bayern Munich also entered the race and held talks with Brentford.
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Bayern, like Arsenal, wanted an initial loan deal, and Brentford would only sanction such a deal if Raya extended his Brentford contract first. The goalkeeper initially refused to do so in Bayern’s case, before agreeing to do so to join Arsenal.
“It was the best choice I’ve made, to come to this club,” Raya told Sky Sports. “I was very close to going to another club, obviously everything happened with Arsenal because it was right in between (Arsenal’s two pursuits) and everything, so I was very, very close to going to another club.
“But luckily, that didn’t happen and Arsenal in the end just made the bid and I came here.
“Yeah, [the other club] was Bayern Munich, it was Bayern Munich.”
Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images
In the end, there were so many ways the transfer saga could have played out differently.
Brentford could have accepted a sale at the time of Arsenal’s initial interest in 2020, they could have lost the play-off final and made Raya’s release clause valid in 2021, Raya could have accepted Bayern’s bid in 2023.
But none of that happened, and he finally made the move later in that 2023 summer. Thankfully, he still seems pleased with that decision.