David Raya

Sicario

His agent has said we’ve made a bid apparently:

I’ve only seen this guy once and he made a massive howler in the playoff final. Is he any good?

Edit: Looks like Martinez is off to Villa:

QuincyAbeyie

For fuck's sake, I hate that Emi is leaving. Better mean that we get some really good news to compensate.

lorddulaarsenal

Ah bollocks

JazzG

If we are selling Martinez then the vast majority of that money needs to go into outfield players. No point selling Martinez for like £18m and then buying a replacement for like £12m. Need to buy a cheapo replacement or bring someone in on loan. Then find another good prospect and have him under Leno.

Claudius

If both Martinez and Leno want to be starters, then how much choice do we have? A good goalie can’t sit on his ass all season. The relative transfer fees should make sense overall though

QuincyAbeyie

Sounds like you've never even played Football Manager. If both want to be starters you tell them both that that's what they are and cross your fingers that it will never come up again.

goon

😆

I don’t see the point in splashing out big on another keeper. Just sign a Mart Poom or loan someone. All funds have to go towards the outfield.

Meatwad

don't ruin it arsenal. the good feelings were just starting to come back. and now you want to sell a 6'4" box dominator for another ospina? fuck outta here.

lorddulaarsenal

Need to see more of Raya but a 6 foot keeper doesn’t fill me with confidence

Claudius

I feel for Arteta / Edu here. They need to shift Martinez but fans will never forgive them. The first goal Leno concedes is going to be met by moans about how incompetent Arteta / Edu are. But Martinez has proven himself a starter and wants to start. We need the money.

Klaus

Claudius wrote:
I feel for Arteta / Edu here. They need to shift Martinez but fans will never forgive them.

I think most people will understand, because they haven't forgotten how good Leno is.

It sucks to lose Martinez, but if he's forcing our hand then selling him is the only sane response. We have two keepers performing at similar levels; one who has performed like that for two years now and one who has performed for a handful of games. You obviously keep the one with the track record if the other guy wants to leave unless he's guaranteed the number one shirt.

Coombs

We need to keep Leno fit and play him every game. I actually prefer that to the rotational model we've been employing. Raya seems like a backup type of signing, just too bad he's so short.

goon

Leno is and has been very good, 3rd and 2nd place in our player of the season votes in his first two seasons, no idea why anyone would be fussed by the keeper situation.

If Emi leaves best of luck to him, genuinely hope he goes on to have a world class career, hopefully abroad.

Mirth

Quincy Abeyie wrote:
Sounds like you've never even played Football Manager. If both want to be starters you tell them both that that's what they are and cross your fingers that it will never come up again.

😆

Mirth

Claudius wrote:
I feel for Arteta / Edu here. They need to shift Martinez but fans will never forgive them. The first goal Leno concedes is going to be met by moans about how incompetent Arteta / Edu are. But Martinez has proven himself a starter and wants to start. We need the money.

People will understand provided this leads to signing another outfield player that makes a difference

QuincyAbeyie

And provided that Emi doesn't turn out better than Leno since we'd get more if we sold the former.

Gazza M

Don't blow the cash on a back up ffs. Rut around for a loan or promote macey

Klaus

Gazza M wrote:
Don't blow the cash on a back up ffs. Rut around for a loan or promote macey

I think Raya counts as homegrown which is probably why we're after him. If Emi leaves we don't have enough of them and could end up with squad penalties.

Don Pacifico

Yeah but Gaz's point still stands: what is the point of selling Martinez if the net gain from selling him is only £10m. Surely there's someone cheaper and homegrown that we could get?

Ray

It doesn't really matter how many homegrown players we have, we just need to make sure we don't exceed 17 non-homegrown players to avoid penalties. Currently we have 19, but that's including the likes of Sokratis, Ozil, Douzi, Torreira, Kolasinac, Elneny, Laca, Mustafi all of whom may leave yet.

Certainly not worth paying £10m+ for a bang average keeper, when we can barely afford to spend as it is.