LONDON, England – According to reports, Raya prefers moving to Arsenal over Bayern Munich. 

Goalkeeper Matt Turner of the U.S. men’s national team’s starting lineup would have to leave the Emirates Stadium after just a year if Arsenal manages to recruit Brentford’s David Raya.

Raya is presently weighing his options as he enters the final year of his contract with Brentford, and Bayern Munich is rumored to be a potential suitor for the Spanish player. This week, the Bundesliga champions put in a loan request that would have required Brentford to give him a 12-month extension on his contract. The Bees disapproved of this.

Sports sources claim that Raya is presently more interested in moving to Arsenal than to Germany, though both parties would need to reach an agreement with Brentford on conditions before a decision could be made. However, he made it plain that any sale would need to make financial sense for the Bees. Earlier this week, their head coach, Thomas Frank, revealed that the goalkeeper will probably leave this summer.

Raya has been on Arsenal’s radar since he was at Blackburn Rovers, the club he left in 2019 to join his present one, where he collaborated with current Gunners goalkeeping coach Inaki Cana. Raya would satisfy the Premier League and UEFA’s homegrown criterion. Brentford turned down several bids from the Gunners for their goalkeeper that were in the neighborhood of £10 million in the summer of 2020. Three years from now, if they were to be successful, Mikel Arteta would have two of the best sweeper keepers in the Premier League on his team, giving Aaron Ramsdale the same competition for a starting position as so many of his outfield teammates do.

When Turner joined the team from the New England Revolution last season, he made seven appearances, so it’s possible that this rivalry was not as evident. In addition to being noticeably absent from the starting lineup for the second leg of the Europa League round of 16 match against Sporting, he did not play a single minute of Premier League football. Given that Arteta’s team would be playing in the Champions League, it had been unclear around Arsenal this summer how frequently the 29-year-old would appear in games outside of domestic cup tournaments.

Despite his strong shot-stopping abilities, Turner has admitted that he has to improve when the ball is at his feet—a critical skill that Ramsdale and Raya both excel at.  Turner, for his part, admitted last month that he had anticipated playing more often after switching from MLS to the Premier League.

Nottingham Forest is interested in Turner.

The player was enthusiastic as he reflected on his first season at Arsenal. He remarked, “This season was amazing at Arsenal,” praising the team’s accomplishments in winning games as well as the important lessons they had gained. He did, however, also express a desire for more playing time and more opportunities on the field. He openly acknowledged that his goal total fell short of his own expectations on a personal level and expressed a desire to have scored more goals. Despite the highs and lows, the player is positive and steadfast in his or her resolve to keep developing and helping the club succeed in its future undertakings.