Arsenal have spent almost £1billion on new players under Mikel Arteta but the Gunners boss believes a £27m signing took his team to a ‘different level’.
Arsenal’s productive transfer window last summer took the club’s spending under Arteta’s tenure to over £900m.
Only three Premier League clubs – Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City – have spent more than Arsenal since the start of the 2020-21 season.
But despite the staggering spending, Arteta believes the relatively cheap signing of David Raya helped transform his Gunners team.
Raya’s loan move to the Emirates Stadium came as a surprise given Arsenal already had England goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale at the club.
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But Raya soon displaced Ramsdale as Arteta’s No. 1, winning the Golden Glove award in his debut season at the club.
Strong performances throughout the 2023-24 campaign earned Raya a permanent £27m move to Arsenal and his impressive performances have continued since then.
Raya, now considered one of the best goalkeepers in the world, has conceded just eight games in 20 games this season.
The 30-year-old will be keen to maintain that remarkable defensive record on Wednesday when Arsenal face his former club Brentford.
‘An amazing goalkeeper,’ Arteta said of Raya ahead of the Premier League clash. ‘It’s a great story as well and how it happened [the transfer].
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‘We tried to sign David much earlier, it was as soon as I arrived almost, and he had to wait another two years.
‘The start that he had and the journey that we had together has been phenomenal for us and I’m very happy to have him.’
Asked whether Raya is the best signing he’s made as Arsenal manager, Arteta added: ‘It’s a very difficult question to answer.
‘But he’s certainly one that is taking us to a different level. He’s certainly a player that has brought something to our way of playing.’
Raya is not the only member of Arsenal’s squad that came from Brentford, with Christian Norgaard making the same switch last summer.
Norgaard has only made two league appearances for the Gunners but Arteta insists he is ‘very happy’ to have the Denmark international.
Asked what convinced him to sign Norgaard, Arteta said: ‘What I saw on the pitch and then everything that I heard about him as a leader, and the role that he can fulfil and the role that he was going to have here.
‘The moment I picked up the phone and spoke to him, he was super excited to join us. He brings something that we don’t have in the squad and I’m very happy to have him.’
Arsenal’s next opponents Brentford have won six of their last nine games to climb into the top-half of the Premier League but pull comfortably clear of the relegation zone.
Brentford took points off Arsenal in this fixture last season back in April, with Yoane Wissa cancelling out Thomas Partey’s second-half opener.
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