flobaba We needed a goalie who doesn't get dunked on from the half way line and we would have made the Europa final. We need a goalie who doesn't concede unnecessary cheap first goals or near post goals which puts us under pressure.

And David Raya is very much not that guy.

at 1.34 the Fulham goal I referenced earlier.

It's a bit like Zinchenko. People get so caught up in the 1 in 20 game errors that they overlook the extent to which these guys underpin our style of play, every single game.

goon If that's the case isn't a keeper with a better ball playing ability advantageous to us?

Clrnc yeah, I was responding to Flobs' comment about the sort of keeper we need.

flobaba For a goalie There's only a few metrics we are concerned about: save percentage, passing accuracy (long and short). Maybe penalties, and less errors. Raya is apparently superior in all these aspects.

I read somewhere he's saved like 5 in 30+ and not a single pen since 2020

Mirth Casillas was both an outlier in athleticism and reaction time and a bit overrated anyway. Raya is a good couple tiers below him too.

More I think about it the more I'm against it. Would swap out a keeper with ADHD for one who sits on a booster seat in his car.

Ultimately I don't even believe he is a Ramsdale replacement. I think we are looking to improve on the quality of his backup, and provide some real competition - if Ramsdale starts to lose form or focus we should be able to drop him without worrying too much about if his replacement is capable.

Some bloke on Twitter speculating that we’ll play both Ramsdale and Raya as inverted keepers

Don Pacifico

Sounds like we are more advanced than Bayern who has completely pulled out.

Raya was Arteta first choice. When he's available now he gone straight back in for him. If we sign him I'm guessing it spells trouble for Ramsdale. We are not spending 40m for a backup

Not sure what all the fuss is - it’s not as if Ramsdale is being sold. He’ll likely start the season as first choice and, if he’s good enough, he’ll hold onto the spot.

We’re not exactly short on cash either so could easily fund an outfield player if we need to as well.

Clrnc oh wow.

Weird move - maybe there's a hint of opportunism on this move given Brentford are actually willing to sell this time but I still find it weird given (a) Ramsdale's context extension, (b) the fact that GK is hardly a big problem and (c) Raya just isn't a top-class GK. I dunno, I got Ramsdale wrong when we signed him but really not keen on this move - seems like a waste of resources unless we're selling Ramsdale for a big fee and given Ramsdale has a few years on Raya, I'd still wager the former having a higher ceiling than the latter.

Don Pacifico Yeah same here, but it just seems like either Arteta or Cana is infatuated with the idea of Raya being our goalie. IF we do sign him for close to 40m and that he took Ramsdale spot after half a season, it won't be the goalie that just joined getting sold, but the one with 3 years contract.

goon Not only that, but the arguments are often endless cherry-picking and confirmation bias whatever happens.

Rather keep Turner than to waste a whole lot of money on this guy. He is not an improvement on Ramsdale.

daredevil

It's ironic being an Arsenal fan and mugging a keeper for being dunked on. When our greatest ever got dunked on pretty badly himself. Also, watch some old Schmeichel clips, he was lobbed so many times, it's unbelievable. Le Tissier, Albert, Suker, Pires etc.

You can't leave out this beauty from Rocky Rocastle:

Don Pacifico spending more on a back-up than for your first choice is pretty extreme.

Similar things were said when we bought Rice, and never moved Partey on. It's not my money.

daredevil Ramsdale is generally a good shot stopper and makes some absolutely spectacular saves from time to time. He also gets punked a bit too often, and that sort of cancels out the parts the spectacular stuff he does. If you're beaten from the halfway line it means you have poor awareness of your positioning. If you get scored on directly from a corner kick, it means you have poor command of your box. It's just unacceptable for a goalie at top level, in my opinion.

would be pretty weird to me if we spent £40m on a backup keeper before we bought a world class striker. im all for providing ramsdale with competition, but i think we could use an actual goalscoring striker more than a backup keeper