Jamie Carragher praises Arsenal for making ‘brave’ transfer decision | Football

Jamie Carragher has applauded Arsenal’s ‘brave’ decision to search out an upgrade on Aaron Ramsdale given the club now boast the ‘best goalkeeper within the Premier League’ in David Raya.

Raya is one in every of only six players to have played each minute for his or her club within the English top flight this term, starting all 36 matches and producing a string of outstanding performances to assist ensure Arsenal have remained a defensive force..

On Sunday, Raya once more underlined his vital importance to Arsenal with an important save to disclaim Mateus Fernandes as Mikel Arteta’s side edged out West Ham to revive their five-point lead on the summit and keep hopes of a historic double alive.

It’s easy to forget that eyebrows were raised when the Gunners first signed Raya – initially on loan from Brentford – in 2023, with Ramsdale the established primary having joined in a £30million deal just two years earlier.

Nonetheless, the 30-year-old Spaniard has gone on to silence those initial doubters and is now widely to be amongst probably the most complete goalkeepers and finest shot-stoppers in European football.

After a superb debut season on the Emirates, Raya was named within the PFA Team of the 12 months while also picking up the Golden Glove, despite Arteta’s men ending second behind Manchester City.

Raya got his hands on the Golden Glove award for a second time last season – sharing the award with Nottingham Forest’s Matz Sels – because the north Londoners again finished runners-up.

With 18 clean sheets to his name this time around, Raya looks on target to scoop the prize for a 3rd straight season, along with his nearest rival, Gianluigi Donnarumma accumulating only 14 clean sheets with three games remaining of City’s campaign.

‘While you speak about magic moments, that is definitely some of the needed moments as well to tug off with that save,’ Arteta said of Raya’s latest heroics on the London Stadium.

‘He was incredible.’

Analysing the central role Raya has played for Arsenal each domestically and in Europe on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football programme, Carragher said there may very well be no doubting that Arteta now had the league’s best goalkeeper at his disposal.

‘It’s not only this season, it’s the decision to bring him in. It wasn’t universally popular when the change was made,’ the ex-Liverpool and England defender stated ahead of Tottenham’s clash with Leeds.

‘I used to be probably quite adamant on the time that I felt Arsenal needed to maneuver on from Aaron Ramsdale. He was a great Premier League goalkeeper and I just didn’t think they may win the Premier League with him in goal.

‘Now it stays to be seen if Raya is that guy however it was a brave decision.

‘The previous goalkeeping coach [Inaki Cana] of David Raya at Brentford moved to Arsenal and possibly gave a little bit of an insight into what type of goalkeeper he was, but he’s been a revelation.

‘A few months ago on Monday Night Football we made a play about which goalkeeper would you need to go on and win the league: Gianluigi Donnarumma or David Raya? And he’s definitely won that battle.

‘He’s the perfect goalkeeper within the Premier League and definitely top-of-the-line goalkeepers on the planet. He could definitely have that mantle.’

While conceding that many Arsenal fans should still be fearing one other slip-up, Carragher is confident it is simply a matter of time before Raya and Co are crowned English champions.

‘I said before the weekend that it felt like the largest game of the season since it affected 4 teams: the 2 teams involved, plus Spurs and Manchester City as well,’ he said.

‘There was big controversy at the top which could have gone either way I suppose.

‘I said last week that if Arsenal win at West Ham, they win the league so I feel they’ve got an amazing probability.

‘I still imagine that anybody with anything to do with Arsenal, be it a player or a fan, won’t imagine that because that’s the character of the sport and you mostly think the worst is across the corner.

‘But they’ve got a very favourable fixture coming next, Burnley at home, after which a game away at Crystal Palace which obviously isn’t easy but in the event you’re picking a fixture away from home, considering the European commitments they’ve got…’

Asked if he was confident in backing Arsenal to win a primary title in 22 years, Carragher replied: ‘Yeah, I’m staying with that prediction, I feel they’ll win the league now.

‘They’ve just got over that little wobble they’d and since then they’ve been really impressive.

‘Not all the time when it comes to performance, but they haven’t looked nervous, they haven’t looked edgy.

‘There was probably a spell of 4 of 5 games where it looked like they were coming off target, however it looks like they’re back on it now.’

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