Every footballer has the aspirations to compete at the highest level.
Brentford's David Raya has spoken of his dreams in the past, most notably of playing in the Premier League. He achieved this when he strolled on to the turf of the formerly known Brentford Community Stadium as a sold out crowd witnessed the Bees defeat Arsenal 2-0 in the club's first top-flight match since 1947.
Next in the manifestation was to represent the country he left as a 16-year-old to join Blackburn Rovers. In a homecoming to Cornellà de Llobregat, the Catalan municipality he grew up in and where he started his career with UE Cornellà, the goalkeeper donned the famous La Furia Roja shirt for the first time at the 40,000 capacity RCDE Stadium, home of RCD Espanyol, when Spain defeated Albania 2-1 in March 2022.
The thought of representing Spain at the 2022 FIFA World Cup would have been a pipe dream, given the country's array of goalkeepers and that fact Raya had never played internationally prior to his national team debut, but the shot-stopper maintained the ambition.
"Playing in the World Cup is a dream that every footballer has," he told West London Sport in March following his Spain debut. "To represent your country in a World Cup, that's the biggest stage for football."
But as 2022 progressed and Raya's involvement in the national continued, albeit in a reserve capacity, the dream of being part of Luis Enrique's squad for the tournament in Qatar was becoming more and more realistic.
Then the call came. The 27-year-old was on the plane to the first FIFA World Cup finals to be held in the Middle East as he was called up ahead of Manchester United's David de Gea.
However, his role was limited to a spectator from the bench as Spain battered Costa Rica 7-0, drew with Germany, before back-to-back defeats to Japan and eventual semi-finalists Morocco saw their journey come to an end in the round of 16.
Having been teased with the prospect of representing his nation at a major tournament, Raya will be hungrier than ever to do so. Now, his attention returns to achieving the dream of competing in the UEFA Champions League.
With 18 months remaining on his contract in west London, Raya is attracting interest and the Catalan will have an important decision to make in the next few months: does he stick? or does he twist?
Brentford Contract Situation
In the three-and-a-half years since signing from Blackburn Rovers for a fee of £3 million in the summer of 2019, Raya has been an instrumental figure in the club's success and recent history-making.
He has become a popular figure amongst the supporters, with the chant of "there's only one David Raya" frequently heard at the Gtech Community Stadium, and is arguably one of the best goalkeepers in the club's history.
In his time with the club, he has helped the Bees reach the Championship play-off final twice, secure promotion to the Premier League, won the Championship Golden Glove, earned his Spain national team debut, and kept 48 clean sheets in 142 appearances - an average of one every 2.95 matches.
Since Brentford's promotion to the Premier League in 2021, the club has done well to hold onto its most valuable assets, with the likes of Thomas Frank, Christian Norgaard, Vitaly Janelt, Pontus Jansson, Rico Henry and, most recently, Mathias Jensen signing new contracts.
However, the club's hand may be forced into selling the goalkeeper with a year left on his contract.
According to the Athletic, contract talks were held between Brentford, Raya, and his representatives in the summer, but the proposed new deal was rejected. There has been no further negotiations since and it's looking increasingly likely they will lose their star shot-stopper with his contract set to expire in 2024.
In a recent interview with Spanish publication AS, the 27-year-old alluded to potentially moving on but is focussed on the remainder of the season.
“Every player has objectives and wants to improve. Right now I am concentrating on the team and we’ll see what happens in the summer," he said.
"If [Brentford] want to do business, they can but there's so much left of the season to go and I am concentrating on playing well. In the summer we can evaluate my situation."
What next for Raya?
Raya has spoken of a desire to play in the UEFA Champions League, stating that it "is a another dream that every footballer has and hopefully I can achieve that".
He added in the interview conducted last March with West London Sport that he hopes to achieve it with Brentford, but, although the club is 8th in the Premier League table, ahead of Liverpool and Chelsea, eight points behind Newcastle United in fourth, it is highly unlikely he will hear the competition's iconic anthem on Lionel Road.
If that's the case, he will have to move on to play against Europe's elite and he is not short of suitors, with three clubs sniffing around the reported £15 million to £20 million price tag on his head, as per the Telegraph.
Tottenham Hotspur are looking for a long-term replacement for their long-serving goalkeeper and captain Hugo Lloris. The 36-year-old is showing signs of decline and has been at fault for three goals in the league this season, leading to him falling out of favour with some supporters. An error in the North London derby defeat at home to Arsenal at the weekend had some calling for Raya's immediate arrival.
Spurs are just outside the top four in fifth and even if they fail to qualify for the Champions League next season, north London would be a great destination for him and would allow him to earn valuable European experience as the number one of a top club.
West London rivals Chelsea are said to also be in the conversation. Since Graham Potter's arrival in September, 2021 FIFA Men's Goalkeeper of the Year Edouard Mendy has lost his place to a revitalised Kepa Arrizabalaga due to his superior ball-playing ability.
The club plans to re-evaluate its goalkeeping situation in the summer and while Raya would be an upgrade, it's hard to imagine him tainting his legacy at Brentford by moving to Stamford Bridge, and the Blues ditching their £72 million investment as soon as he rediscovers form.
Man United are also said to be interested. Raya would be a perfect fit for the Red Devils under Erik ten Hag with his immense ability to play out from the back. However his compatriot de Gea has improved a lot under the Dutchman this season and the club is in talks with the 32-year-old over a new contract.
The idea of him staying at Brentford is not out of the question, but unless the club qualifies for European competition, Raya will want to take the next step in his career and try get into the plans of Spain's new head coach Luis de La Fuente.
What next for Brentford?
In an ideal world, Raya signs a new contract. However, the likelihood is Brentford will have to face the task of replacing a goalkeeper that has developed into one of the better in the league as a mid-table club.
At the time of writing this, Raya has made the most saves in the Premier League this season (82), the second most high claims (26), two behind Aston Villa's World Cup winner Emiliano Martinez (28), the most passes for a goalkeeper (716), and ranks fifth in the race for the Golden Glove with six clean sheets, ahead of Lloris, Alisson, and Martinez.
The Bees will be in the market for someone of a similar ilk and it could prove to be a very difficult task.
Brentford currently have 21-time Albania international Thomas Strakosha, who signed for the club on a four-year contract in the summer, on their books. When he signed it was expected that he would compete with Raya with the view of him succeeding the Spain international if he was to leave.
His time with the club has not gone to plan, however, as a mixture of Raya's form and an ankle problem has resulted in him making just two appearances, both of which came in the cup, leading to his agent coming out to state that his client wants to leave the club.
Not much has been seen of him, but if he is to remain and be Raya's successor then he will have to work on his short distribution in pressurised situations. He is long distribution is strong and could prove to be a valuable asset for Thomas Frank to maintain the team's direct play.
It would be strange of the club to allow him to leave without a fair chance, therefore it's possible that he could be handed the reigns at the start of next season with another goalkeeper coming in to contest for the position.
A possible addition mentioned in the media is Nantes captain Alban Lafont.
According to a source in contact with Get French Football News, Brentford will be prioritising a move for the Burkina Faso-born former France Under-21 goalkeeper in the summer, in the case of Raya leaving
The 23-year-old has been in fine form since Ligue 1's resumption post-World Cup and has not conceded in four matches, helping lift the French club away from the relegation zone. In total, he has six clean sheets in 18 league matches and conceded 23.
The Lafont link got Brentford excited on social media and with his contract set to expire in 2024, the Bees could secure a player with experience in European competition and one that has a high ceiling for a cut-price deal.
Whatever the situation, it is imagined that Brentford will have the long-term future in mind and how a transfer will impact the path of Matthew Cox.
The 19-year-old is highly-rated by the club and has been in and around the first-team since his arrival from AFC Wimbledon in July 2021. He was a standout performer at the 2022 Under-19 European Championship and was rewarded with a six-year contract with a club option of a further year last summer.
This change in goalkeeper comes too soon for the teenager, who is yet to make his senior debut, but do not be surprised if he is handed the number one shirt once the next cycle comes around.