At a Glance:
- Many players from Arsenal are up for award contention this season
- One Arsenal player could be in with an outside chance at football’s biggest awards
- The player in question has had a unique rise to the top
Arsenal have had some standout players this season, and given that they are in contention to win both the Premier League and Champions League, many players are up for end-of-season awards.
Declan Rice is one of the more obvious names in terms of winning the Premier League Player of the Year award, given the 27-year-old has been a constant feature in Arsenal’s midfield this season, and starred while doing so.
Meanwhile, top scorer Viktor Gyokeres has impressed in recent performances, and has been the North London club’s headline generator for the past few weeks.
William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes have also been brick walls in the Gunners’ defence, and despite Saliba recently being called the best player in the league, it seems another player who keeps the goals out at the Emirates is in with a shout of picking up awards.
David Raya should win Player of the Year award, says journalist Simon Collings
Given that David Raya has held 17 clean sheets in 35 Premier League appearances, is on his way to winning his third Premier League Golden Glove award in a row, and his team is close to winning both a Premier League and Champions League trophy.
Journalist Simon Collings spoke on TalkSPORT regarding Raya, stating:
“I’ve seen Peter Schmeichel has been banging the drum for Raya to win Player of the Year and I think that is a genuine shout… [in terms of] consistency from him, he had one error against Wolves, but since then, he’s been very, very good. I think we also saw in the Carabao Cup final the drop-off from him and Kepa.”
“For me, he’s been absolutely brilliant and his level, his standards are so high that it gets lost under the radar what he does.”
“Even [in the Champions League against Atletico], coming to get the ball and the calmness he gives [in the second leg]… to win three Golden Gloves in a row… he has to go down as one of the best signings the club has ever made.”
While Raya’s signing from Brentford in 2023 has been revolutionary to Arsenal and the way the team has played over the past three seasons, but his rise to the top has also made him a unique story within football.
David Raya has made it all the way from non-league to Champions League final in just over a decade
Having joined Blackburn’s academy in 2012 from Cornella in Spain, David Raya spent his first couple of seasons at Ewood Park before joining Southport in 2015, in the English sixth tier.
He was eventually able to establish himself as first-choice goalkeeper at Blackburn, before joining then-Championship side Brentford in 2019.
Brenford’s promotion to the Premier League in 2021 saw him star in three seperate campaigns for the Bees, before joining Arsenal three years ago. Now, he will presumably start in the 2026 Champions League final for the Gunners against Paris-Saint Germain.
