Arsenal transfer news: The latest Gunners media briefing from the Emirates Stadium with reaction to stories on Gabriel Magalhaes, Marc Guehi and David Raya.
Arsenal have announced their fourth major transfer of the summer. Coming in after the higher-profile additions of Kai Havertz, Declan Rice and Jurrien Timber is Brentford's David Raya.
"I spoke to the boss and he sent me the values of what Arsenal are about. The way that the club is going, it’s growing even more so it is a beautiful challenge to take and I couldn’t say no."
However, upon completion, it must be said that this is about as good of a piece of business as it could be. If the Gunners felt they had to do it and were left with no chance then they have pulled it off nearly perfectly. The only thing stopping it from being 100% perfect is that the results of it now need to be seen.
£3million ($4m) for a Premier League proven 'keeper, one of the best performers in the league over the past two seasons, is nothing. To pay that for a player effectively on trial with a modest price to buy him outright is genius. Should Raya go on to be worth the £27million ($34m) price in 10 months time then they will have gotten good value from him and picked up a player that was linked with a £40million ($51m) move earlier in the year for much cheaper.
If Raya is a transfer to add strength and depth to Arteta's squad then Marc Guehi would be a luxury option. Fresh links have emerged linking Arsenal to the England centre-back with the added detail that they have been long-term admirers of him.
Guehi, who football.london has previously reported could be available this summer with Tottenham and Chelsea also looking at him as a potential defensive recruitment. For the Gunners it could be as a shock replacement for Gabriel Magalhaes. The Brazilian is reportedly a serious target for the Saudi Pro League.
Arsenal are aware of such interest and have also seen odds tumble with further links towards Manchester City defender Aymeric Laporte.
football.london says: Just when things were looking calm at Arsenal. This is hardly the sort of news they need heading into the final two weeks of what has been a massively successful summer window.
Timber had looked so good in his performances to this point and Gabriel was the go-to option next to William Saliba, outdoing him on the field at times last season. Now both realities are far from certain and the 2023/24 season has already started.