‘I never lost faith’: David Raya’s incredible journey from non-league to Champions League finalist
Early on his career
London (CNN) — When David Raya steps out onto the pristinely manicured grass of Budapest’s Puskás Aréna for Saturday’s Champions League Final, he’ll do so to the soundtrack of nearly 70,000 boisterous spectators.
The sparkling pinnacle of European soccer’s elite club competition will be a far cry from the bumpy pitches and concrete terracing of England’s non-league the goalkeeper once graced.
Twelve years ago, he was a Spanish teenager on a character-building loan spell with then fifth-tier Southport FC.
Fast forward to today, he’s one of the most influential keepers of his generation and stands on the brink of history as Arsenal chases a first ever Champions League crown. It’s the stuff of dreams.
What would David Raya the boy make of David Raya the man?
“He’ll be over the moon,” the Spanish keeper says with a smile speaking to CNN Sports ahead of the showdown with Paris Saint-Germain.
“He’ll just say everything has paid off. Every training, every call to home and every moment that you are by yourself.
“He’d be very proud of the journey that we have taken.”
Did he always have faith?
“Yes, always,” Raya proclaims. “I never lost the faith.”
Defying the odds
Raya’s journey to the upper echelons of the game has not been so much smooth and linear as uneven and circuitous.
It’s been one underpinned throughout by resilience, support and an unwavering belief in achieving his ultimate dream destination: the promised land of silverware.
With the blessing of his parents and despite not speaking a word of English, Raya pursued his “chance of a lifetime” by leaving his hometown of Barcelona as a 16-year-old to join Blackburn Rovers’ academy in 2012.
“(They’ve) always been there pushing me and trying to be a better person and a better player,” he says.
“It (was) a shock of culture. It’s tough, (but) I think it was tougher for my mom and dad than it was for me.”
It was as he was turning 19, when he dropped down the divisions to the then fifth-tier Merseyside club that he embarked on, as he describes it, “a point of maturity (and) one of the best moments of my career.”
Washing his own gloves and kit between matches, Raya talks first-hand of seeing the significance of winning matches as players balanced training with work.
“It helps to pay more bills and pay the mortgages,” he recalls.
“It gives you another perspective of football and how well treated we are when we are in a higher level.”
Premier League dream
But he too had to bide his time, recalling months when he’d go without playing a game on his return to Rovers.
Far from giving up, it hardened his mental resolve, and when his break with the Lancashire club and subsequently a trip to Brentford came, he didn’t think twice.
His journey to the promised land of the Premier League was finally achieved in the summer of 2021.
Not only did it mark the culmination of a childhood dream, it too was to signal the beginning of a new chapter in his remarkable rise in the game.
“When I came to England, I made a promise that I wasn’t going to move from England until I played in the Premier League, and I did,” Raya recalls.
“I didn’t take it for granted. I always want more. I always want to make that next step and next challenge.
“I think that positive mind and that dreaming, visualizing the stuff has helped me to be where I am right now.”
Arsenal was to be that next step on the ladder as he moved to the North London club in August 2023.
Since establishing himself as the undisputed No. 1, the Spaniard hasn’t looked back, developing into one of the Gunners’ most important players and the undisputed best goalkeeper in the Premier League.
Ballon d’Or contender?
His superlative shot-stopping ability, commanding distribution and defining game-winning moments this season contributed substantially to the Gunners ending their 22-year wait for a Premier League trophy – this after so many recent near misses.
“Incredible feeling (and) everything has paid off … the way we did this is incredible,” he exhales.
“It’s a relief. It’s a weight off the shoulders and now we can be a little bit more free in a way. So that will help us to be even better, to be more convinced of what we’re capable of.
“It has to be a turning point for the club, for everyone that is involved here … So why can we not go next season and have the same aim?”
Raya too became just the fourth player to win the Golden Glove Award for the most for clean sheets for a third successive season with his form leading to pundit and social media chatter about being a contender for the prestigious Ballon d’Or accolade.
“Obviously, it’s something that you like to hear and you like to see people talking about that potential and I would love to be in that list and to be competing with the best in the world,” he humbly replies when asked about his chances.
“I leave that for the pundits and the people that speak sport. I just want to be the best version of myself every day … and the rest will come along.”
Eyeing Champions League glory
Sustained success is what Raya and Arsenal are now eyeing up as they go in search of European glory.
Twenty years on from their debut appearance in a Champions League final – a 2-1 defeat to Barcelona – it’s defending champion PSG that stands between them and silverware.
The Gunners lost out to Luis Enrique’s slick outfit at the semfinal stages last season, and with Les Parisiens boasting a star-studded front three of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Ousmane Dembélé and Désiré Doué, Raya knows he’ll have his work cut out.
He too will want to avoid the fate that befell then Arsenal keeper Jens Lehmann who made unwanted history by becoming the first player ever sent off in a Champions League final.
“We know how good they are. Any player can hurt you from anywhere, so I know it’s going to be a busy evening,” Raya tells CNN.
“If we do things well, we defend how we know how to defend, and then with the ball we are the way we want to play, I think we have a big chance to hurt them and score a lot more goals than them.”
With the Premier League chip off their back and a squad liberated from the fear of failure, the opportunity of further glory awaits the Gunners.
“That’s the message. We have to think that we are going to win the Champions League because we’re super convinced of what we’re capable of.
“If we do what we have to do, we have a big chance to win.”
The-CNN-Wire
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