Tottenham could target Brentford goalkeeper David Raya this summer as Ange Postecoglou looks to sign a replacement for Hugo Lloris.
It's no secret that Spurs are in the market for a new goalkeeper this summer, with long-serving captain Lloris set to depart the Lilywhites this summer following 11 years at the club. With the Frenchman out, Spurs need a new first-choice 'keeper, and Brentford's Raya tops the shortlist.
The Spanish international has 12 months remaining on his contract with the Bees, but the west London club are reportedly asking for £40m to acquire his services. Raya is looking to leave this summer, with his agent claiming the 27-year-old will leave on a free transfer next summer if he's not allowed to leave this year.
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So, if Spurs were to sign Raya, could the 'keeper help Spurs return to European football next season? Let's take a look.
To set up this simulation, we used the Football Manager 2023 editor to arrange for Raya to join Postecoglou's side on July 1, 2023, using FM23 to run the simulation. We then simulated the entire 2023/24 season to see how the Spanish international could perform.
As expected, Raya became Spurs' first-choice 'keeper following his arrival, with Fraser Forster remaining as the Spurs number two. Across the 2023/24 season, Raya was used in every game apart from two in the league, making 42 appearances across all competitions.
36 of the 'keeper's appearances came in the Premier League, with the Spaniard missing two games in January due to an injury. In those 36 games, Raya kept 15 clean sheets, the most in the Premier League as he won the golden glove.
The 'keeper did concede 38 goals in the other 21 games though, with Spurs conceding four goals in a game on three different occasions. Raya was also fantastic at saving penalties, with the 27-year-old saving three of the four he faced in the league.
At the end of the 2023/24 season, Football Manager 2023 put together an overall best Spurs XI, based on performances, statistics and other metrics. This is what Spurs' best XI looked like at the end of the 2023/24 season as predicted by Football Manager 2023:
Full Spurs best XI (4-3-3): Raya; Porro, Romero, Dier, Perisic; Hojbjerg, Bissouma, Bentancur; Kulusevski, Kane, Son.
Raya started between the sticks in Spurs' best XI, with Pedro Porro, Cristian Romero, Eric Dier and Ivan Perisic making up the defensive four in front of him. Only Romero averaged a rating above 7/10 per game out of the Spurs' defence, showing how impressive Raya was to keep 15 clean sheets in the league and 17 across all competitions.
With Postecoglou in charge and Raya in goal, Spurs showed some big improvement in the 2023/24 season as they looked to reclaim a European spot. The Lilwhites had a rocky end to the season that saw them win just three of their last 10 games, but it was enough for Spurs to finish in the Premier League top four.
20 wins, nine draws and nine losses saw Spurs end the season on 69 points, nine more than they accumulated in the 2022/23 campaign. Victory on the last day of the season in the simulation saw them finish three points ahead of Newcastle in fifth and six ahead of Man United in sixth.
Despite their improvement in the Premier League, Spurs failed to win a trophy with some underwhelming showings in the domestic cup competitions. A 2-1 loss to West Ham knocked them out of the FA Cup in the quarter-finals, and their Carabao Cup journey came to an end in the third round following a 2-0 defeat to Liverpool.
Overall, FM23 predicts that if Raya moved to Spurs, the Spaniard could make a fantastic impact, helping strengthen the Lilywhites' back line and lead Postecoglou's side to a top-four finish. The Spurs defence wasn't great, but Raya was able to produce some fine displays to earn the golden glove.
Would you like to see Spurs sign Raya? Let us know in the comments!
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