SKY: Brentford want £40m for David Raya

With Hugo Lloris all but certain to leave Tottenham Hotspur this summer, Spurs are now serious about finding and buying a long term option between the sticks. Brentford’s David Raya is one of the names that’s currently high up on that list. Raya is a solid keeper coming off of a very good season at Brentford, and it’s been clear that he wants to leave the club heading into the final year of his contract.

But Brentford aren’t going to make it easy. The Sky Sports transfer tracker today has a short bit on Raya, confirming that he’s a primary target for both Spurs and Manchester United, but that the Bees will not budge from their £40m valuation.

I kind of get it. Raya’s good but I’m not sure he’s £40m good, especially with just one year left on his current deal. Brentford also has already signed Raya’s repalcement, Mark Flekken from Freiberg, and also has Thomas Strakosha on the books so this is just them playing hardball.

There’s still a ton of time left — the transfer window isn’t even open yet! — so there’s time for Spurs (or United) to bargain that price down a little, but it seems likely Raya won’t be a bargain option. And if I’m Tottenham, securing a quality first choice keeper is the highest of priorities, one that I don’t think even really requires a director of football in place. That’s the kind of signing that you make as soon as possible so you can move on to other areas of the team.

So perhaps it depends on Spurs and how quickly they want to move. If Brentford are going to be intransigent about making a deal early, I can see a situation where Spurs might move on. Or maybe this is just bog-standard negotiating tactics.

One thing’s for certain — there’s no way that Spurs head into next season with Fraser Forster as their first choice option, so someone new is joining this summer. We’ll have to see if it’s Raya, and how much it’ll cost.