Mikel Arteta says David Raya has been “unbelievable” for Arsenal, hitting back at those who “hammered” him for signing him to replace Aaron Ramsdale as his first-choice goalkeeper.
The Arsenal manager was heavily criticised when he dropped Ramsdale for Raya in 2023/24.
Several pundits and even Ramsdale’s father publicly spoke out against Arteta’s decision, which has been justified after back-to-back Golden Glove awards for the Spaniard, who cost the Gunners £30million from Brentford.
Raya will make his 100th appearance in all competitions for Arsenal in the Premier League against Nottingham Forest on Saturday and Arteta acknowledged that he was “hammered” when he bought him.
“It’s unbelievable (41 clean sheets in 99 games),” Arteta said. “And I was hammered when I brought him. So that’s perspective as well.
“Very good to understand the game, and especially when a few months or years go by. It’s really good to look back as well and reflect on that.”
It will be interesting to see Arsenal’s test against Forest after Ange Postecoglou replaced Nuno Espirito Santo at the City Ground.
“I think with Ange, his biggest strength is the way he’s been,” Arteta said when asked about Postecoglou.
“He has put his fingerprints on that team, and he has a very clear way of playing, very clear DNA. Extremely good to watch, learned a lot from him, and it will be a very difficult game.
“He’s made the decision to go to Forest now, because for sure, he believes that with the players that he has, he can do what he wants to do and be successful again.
“But obviously, we had very different expectations, if he would have been the manager, because it was already for a long time and very clear what he wanted to do with Ange there. And the time that he had, it would be things that were different for sure.
“Very good (to have him back in the Premier League), I think. As a character, as a person, what he transmits, what he brings to football, it’s a joy to watch the team that always enjoyed it and learn from it. So, yeah, very welcome to having him back.”
Arteta also confirmed that William Saliba trained on Friday after limping off against Liverpool two weeks ago and missing France’s two World Cup qualifiers during the international break. Benjamin White also trained, but Bukayo Saka remains out.
Arsenal are looking to bounce back after losing to Liverpool, who improved on deadline day with the British-record signing of Alexander Isak.
On Liverpool improving to defend their title, Arteta said: “Well, they are the strongest for sure.
“They have recruited probably the most, the two most decisive players that there were in Europe in the market. And they’ve done really well to recruit that.
“They were very, very strong. I think we need to look at ourselves and what we have to do in terms of our abilities to be better than them, that’s it.”
Asked how difficult it will be to stop Arne Slot’s side this year, the Spanish manager continued: “It’s not about Liverpool, it’s about the league in general and how difficult it’s going to be with the level that it is to be so consistent and winning the amount of matches that you need to earn the right to win the Premier League and that’s going to be a really long run for all of us.”