David Raya Martín (born 15 September 1995) is a Spanish professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for club

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

and the Spain national team. Regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in the world, he is known for his distribution, box command, and shot-stopping abilities. Raya began his senior career in England with

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

. He made his professional breakthrough as part of the team that was promoted from League One in 2018. He transferred to

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

club

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

in 2019 and was a part of the team that was promoted to the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

in 2021. In 2023, Raya joined fellow Premier League side

Arsenal F.C. The Arsenal Football Club, commonly known as simply Arsenal, is a professional football club based in Islington, North London, England. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. In domestic football, Arsenal h ...

on loan, winning the Golden Glove award in his debut season and earning a permanent transfer the following summer. The following season he won the golden glove for the second time in a row, the first goalkeeper to do that since Ederson. At the end of the season, Arsenal announced that Raya would wear the number 1 shirt for the 25/26 season Raya made his international debut for Spain in 2022, and was part of the squads for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

as well as

UEFA Euro 2024 The 2024 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2024 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2024) or simply Euro 2024, was the 17th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international Association football, football champ ...

, which Spain won.

Club career

Blackburn Rovers

Born in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, Catalonia, Raya began his career in his native Spain and combined goalkeeping with playing as an outfield player in

futsal Futsal is a variant of association football played between two teams of five players each on a court smaller than a football pitch. Its rules are based on the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game of association football, and i ...

. He later played youth football for Cornellà, before moving to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

to join

on a scholarship in July 2012. Two years earlier, the transfer of Hugo Fernández to

Ewood Park Ewood Park () is a Association football, football stadium in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, and the home of Blackburn Rovers F.C., founding members of the English Football League, Football League and Premier League, who have played there since ...

had led to an agreement between the two clubs for Cornellà players to join Blackburn Rovers for trials. He progressed through the club's

academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

and signed a professional contract on 26 February 2014. Raya gained his first senior experience with a four-month spell on

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

Conference Premier The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National Leagues and step 1 of the National Le ...

club

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

during the first half of the 2014–15 season and made 24 appearances. After his return to Ewood Park, he made two late-season

appearances and signed a new three-year contract in April 2015. Despite making just 13 appearances during the 2015–16 and 2016–17 seasons, Raya was Rovers' second-choice goalkeeper behind Jason Steele and was a frequent member of the matchday squad. Rovers' relegation to League One at the end of the 2016–17 season saw Raya take over as the club's first-choice goalkeeper. He made 47 appearances during the 2017–18 season and helped the club to automatic promotion straight back to the Championship. He retained his place during 2018–19 and made 46 appearances during a season of consolidation in the Championship. Raya departed Rovers in July 2019, after making 108 appearances for the club.

Brentford

On 6 July 2019, Raya signed for Championship club

on a four-year contract for an undisclosed fee, reported to be in the region of £3 million. Raya's performances during the first half of the 2019–20 season earned him a nomination for Goalkeeper of the Year at the 2020 London Football Awards and his 16

clean sheet In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which the losing team fails to score. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usually seen as a result of ...

s in league matches during the season saw him share the EFL Golden Glove award with

Bartosz Białkowski Bartosz Marek Białkowski (; born 6 July 1987) is a Polish former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (football), goalkeeper. He began his career playing in his native Poland, before moving to Southampton F. ...

. Raya made 49 appearances during a season which ended with a 2–1 2020 Championship play-off final defeat to West London rivals

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

. Injury and transfer speculation led to Raya being left out of head coach Thomas Frank's matchday squads during the 2020–21

pre-season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of S ...

and early in the regular season. After being reintegrated with two

EFL Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

appearances and captaining the team in both matches, he signed a new four-year contract on 2 October 2020. Raya finished the 2020–21 season with 48 appearances, 17 clean sheets and a promotion medal, earned with a 2–0 2021 Championship play-off final victory over

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club ( ; ) is a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. It competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Swansea have played their home matches at ...

. In his growing role as a

sweeper-keeper The goalkeeper (sometimes written as goal-keeper, abbreviated as GK, keeper, keeps, or goalie) is a position in association football. It is the most specialised position in the sport. The goalkeeper's main role is to stop the opposing team from ...

, Raya attempted 300 more passes than any other Championship goalkeeper during the season. Raya began the 2021–22 season as a starter in

matches, before suffering a posterior cruciate ligament injury during a 2–1 defeat to

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

on 24 October 2021. He returned to outdoor training on 10 January 2022. After a

behind closed doors Behind Closed Doors may refer to: Film, television and radio Film * ''Behind Closed Doors'' (1929 film), an early talkie starring Virginia Valli * Behind Closed Doors (1961 film), ''Behind Closed Doors'' (1961 film), an Italian comedy film by Dino ...

friendly appearance on 1 February 2022, Raya made his return to competitive match play with a start in a 4–1

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

fourth round defeat to Everton four days later. He was ever-present until the end of the campaign and finished a mid-table season with 25 appearances. Raya continued as a starter in league matches during the 2022–23 season and his performances during an unbeaten January 2023 (during which Brentford challenged the European places) saw him nominated for the

Premier League Player of the Month The Premier League Player of the Month is an association football award that recognises the best adjudged Premier League player each month of the season. The winner is chosen by a combination of an online public vote, which contributes to 1 ...

award. That same month, Raya rejected a second offer of a new contract. He was a member of the club's leadership group during the 2022–23 season. According to

Opta Sports Opta Sports, formerly Opta Sportsdata and more commonly known as Opta, is a British sports analytics company. Opta provides data for more than 30 sports in over 70 countries, with clients ranging from leagues and federations to broadcasters and ...

, Raya led all goalkeepers for both saves (154) and save percentage (77%) in the

2022–23 Premier League The 2022–23 Premier League was the 31st season of the Premier League and the 124th season of top-flight English football overall. Fulham, Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest were the three promoted clubs from the 2021–22 EFL Championship, re ...

, becoming the only goalkeeper to top both categories in a single campaign in the competition since stats started being tracked in 2003–04.

Arsenal

2023–24 season

On 15 August 2023, Raya completed a season-long loan move to

, becoming the fifteenth player from Spain to represent Arsenal's first team. Arsenal paid £3 million to complete the loan deal, which has a purchase option of £27 million. As part of the deal, Raya signed a two-year contract extension with Brentford, which also includes a club option for an additional 12 months. On 17 September, he made his debut as a starter for Arsenal against Everton at

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a Association football, football stadium in Walton, Liverpool, Walton, Liverpool, England, it was the home of Premier League club Everton F.C., Everton from 1892 until 2025. It is now the home of Everton F.C. (women), Everton's ...

, replacing

Aaron Ramsdale Aaron Christopher Ramsdale (born 14 May 1998) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Southampton and the England national team. Ramsdale began his senior club career playing for Sheffield United and signed fo ...

as Arsenal's starting goalkeeper. Raya would later make his Arsenal home and Champions League debut against

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional association football, football department, which has pla ...

on 20 September, keeping a clean sheet as the Gunners ran out 4–0 winners. On 24 September, Raya started in the first

North London derby The North London derby is the meeting of the association football clubs Arsenal F.C., Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Tottenham Hotspur, both of which are based in North London, England. Fans of both clubs consider the other to be their main ...

of the season against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

and had a mixed performance. In reference to the replacement of Ramsdale with Raya as Arsenal's starting keeper, ''

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

'' journalist Phil McNulty stated in November 2023 that manager Mikel Arteta had to "face inevitable scrutiny about whether he has also reduced Arsenal's effectiveness and fluency by applying a fix to something that was not broken." On 12 March 2024, Raya saved two penalties in a penalty shootout win against

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

in the Champions League round of 16, which qualified his club to the quarter finals for the first time since the 2009–10 season, which McNulty stated "settled all lingering arguments about his status as Arsenal's first-choice goalkeeper". On 20 April, Raya kept a sixth consecutive away clean sheet in the Premier League, becoming the second goalkeeper in the competition's history to achieve this feat, after

Edwin van der Sar Edwin van der Sar (; born 29 October 1970) is a Dutch association football, football executive and former professional player who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. He was most recently the chief executive of AFC Ajax, A ...

did so in 2008–2009. On 4 May, he was confirmed as the outright winner of the 2023–24

Premier League Golden Glove The Premier League Golden Glove is an annual association football award presented to the goalkeeper who has kept the most clean sheets in the Premier League. In football a team's defence or goalkeeper may be said to "keep a clean sheet" if they ...

, having kept the most clean sheets of any goalkeeper in the season. Raya became the third Arsenal goalkeeper to claim the award after

Wojciech Szczęsny Wojciech Tomasz Szczęsny (; born 18 April 1990) is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Barcelona. After starting his club career at Legia Warsaw, Szczęsny signed for Arsenal in January 2006, where he made his ...

and

Petr Čech Petr Čech (; born 20 May 1982) is a Czech former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper and current ice hockey player who plays as a goaltender for Oxford City Stars. He has ...

, and the third Spaniard to win the accolade after Pepe Reina and

David de Gea David de Gea Quintana (; born 7 November 1990) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Fiorentina. Considered one of the best keepers of his generation, he is known for his reflexes and shot-stopping capabilitie ...

. Raya was later included in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year for the season.

2024–25 season

On 4 July, he completed his permanent move to Arsenal by signing a long-term contract. In the game against

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

on 24 August, he made a stunning one-handed stop to keep out

Ollie Watkins Oliver George Arthur Watkins (born 30 December 1995) is an English professional association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for club Aston Villa F.C., Aston Villa and the England national football tea ...

's close-range header, which would later win August 2024's

Premier League Save of the Month The Premier League Save of the Month is an association football award that recognises the goalkeeper deemed to have made the best Premier League save in each month of the season from August to April. For sponsorship purposes, it was called the C ...

award. On 19 September, he saved a penalty against Italian side

Atalanta Atalanta (; ) is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology), Clymene and who is primarily known from the tales of the Caly ...

taken by Mateo Retegui and the rebound header, becoming the fourth Arsenal goalkeeper to save a penalty in the Champions League, after Richard Wright, Jens Lehmann and

Łukasz Fabiański Łukasz Marek Fabiański (born 18 April 1985) is a Polish professional association football, footballer who plays as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for club West Ham United F.C., West Ham United. He will become a free agent on ...

. In his post-match interview, Raya credited Arsenal's goalkeeping coach

Iñaki Caña Iñaki Caña Pavón (; born 19 September 1975) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper, and is currently the goalkeeping coach of club Arsenal. Playing career Born in Barcelona, Catalonia, Caña came through the youth ranks ...

for the role he played in his double save against Atalanta. He was later voted as Arsenal's Player of the Month for September. On 27 December, Raya claimed a clean sheet against Ipswich Town, his 23rd in 50 Premier League games for the Gunners. In doing so, he broke

David Seaman David Andrew Seaman (born 19 September 1963) is an English former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. In a career lasting from 1981 to 2004, he is best known for his time playing for Arsenal. He won 75 caps for England, and is the country ...

's record (22) set in 1993 for the most clean sheets kept by an Arsenal goalkeeper in his first 50 appearances for the club in the division. Raya secured a second consecutive Premier League Golden Glove, this time sharing the award jointly with

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

goalkeeper

Matz Sels Matz Willy Els Sels (born 26 February 1992) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Nottingham Forest and the Belgium national team. Club career Lierse Sels started his youth career at Kontich, and transferred ...

, with 13 clean sheets.

International career

After failing to receive a call-up by

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

at youth level, Raya won his maiden international call-up to the senior team for a pair of friendlies in March 2022. He made his debut with a start in a 2–1 win over

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

on 26 March and remained an unused substitute in the second match. Raya was an unused substitute during the entirety of Spain's victorious

2022–23 UEFA Nations League The 2022–23 UEFA Nations League was the third season of the UEFA Nations League, an international association football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of UEFA. The competition was held from June to Se ...

campaign. Raya was named in Spain's

2022 World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

squad, but prior to the team's exit in the round of 16, his only match play during the period came with a second half substitute appearance in a pre-tournament friendly versus

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

. He was part of the Spain squad that won

. He played one match, starting the final group stage match in a 1–0 win over Albania.

Style of play

, Raya "is renowned as a vocal keeper, as well as one who is adept with the ball at his feet". He "can play out from the back and is happy covering the space in behind", which allows a team "to play with a high line". As a result of his and Brentford's style of play during the 2020–21 season, Raya attempted 300 more passes than any other goalkeeper in the Championship. In an exclusive interview with

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...

on 14 August 2024, Raya credited former Brentford and current Arsenal goalkeeping coach

– who was a key figure in Raya's transfer from Blackburn to Brentford in 2019 and his move from Brentford to Arsenal in 2023 – for transforming the way he played.

Personal life

Raya grew up in

Pallejà Pallejà () is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of the Baix Llobregat in Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia ...

and is a

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

supporter. He is currently in a relationship with Tatiana Trouboul.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Blackburn Rovers *

EFL League One The English Football League One, known as Sky Bet League One for sponsorship reasons, or simply League One, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League One is the second-highest division of the English Football League an ...

runner-up: 2017–18 Brentford *

EFL Championship play-offs The English Football League (EFL) Championship play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from third to sixth in the EFL Championship table and are part of the English Football League play-o ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

Spain *

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is an international European football competition played by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The competition was devised to minimise friendlies a ...

: 2022–23; runner-up: 2024–25 Individual * EFL Championship Golden Glove: 2019–20 *

: 2023–24, 2024–25 (shared) *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's Football in England, En ...

2023–24 Premier League The 2023–24 Premier League was the 32nd season of the Premier League and the 125th season of English football overall. The season began on 11 August 2023, and concluded on 19 May 2024. Manchester City, the defending champions, won their f ...

: August 2024, March 2025

References

External links

David Raya
at

David Raya
at Brentford F.C.
David Raya
at

Royal Spanish Football Federation The Royal Spanish Football Federation (; RFEF) is the governing body of football in Spain. Founded on 29 September 1913, it is based in La Ciudad del Fútbol of Las Rozas de Madrid, Las Rozas, a municipality near Madrid. RFEF organizes the natio ...

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Raya, David 1995 births Living people Footballers from Barcelona Spanish men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers UE Cornellà players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Southport F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players National League (English football) players English Football League players Premier League players Spain men's international footballers 2022 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2024 players UEFA Nations League–winning players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England UEFA European Championship–winning players 21st-century Spanish sportsmen