The agent of David Raya has revealed that Manchester United, Spurs and Chelsea made enquiries to sign the Arsenal goalkeeper last summer, before his move to north London.
Raya signed for Arsenal on an initial loan deal from Brentford, having impressed since the Bees’ promotion to the Premier League.
The Spanish shot-stopper led the league for saves and save percentage last season, but has had a mixed start with the Gunners since ousting Aaron Ramsdale from the team.
Arsenal have an option to make the move permanent next summer for a fee of £27m, after negotiating an initial loan to navigate Financial Fair Play restrictions.
The player’s agent, Jaume Munell, has revealed that Arsenal won a competitive race to sign the 28-year-old last summer, with Manchester United, Spurs, Chelsea and Bayern Munich all making approaches.
“Arsenal showed interest for the first time three years ago in 2021. They tried to buy him but Brentford didn’t want to sell him at any price,’” Munell told AFTV.
“After they bought Ramsdale that was an easier option but David has always been the priority.
“This summer, he had just one year left on his contract with Brentford and Arsenal was the club that showed the most concrete interest and have always been our priority.
“Tottenham also was interested and made an official bid but it was refused because was lower than the €40m [£34.9m] that Brentford wanted to sell him, also Bayern Munich was interested and had an amazing offer but with no buy option included and for this reason, we’ve not accepted it.
“Bayern Munich didn’t understand our refusal because they thought that Raya would have been the backup keeper at Arsenal but as you can see it’s not like this. Also Manchester United and Chelsea made an inquiry but nothing concrete.”
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