David Raya has proven to be a highly successful signing for Arsenal. He’s managed to vindicate Mikel Arteta’s controversial decision to replace Aaron Ramsdale, completing the perfect defensive puzzle at the Gunners. With his reliable presence. he’s transformed them into an extremely tough nut to crack and also improved their passing game with his impressive distribution ability.
The Spaniard has already kept 10 clean sheets in the Premier League, the most for any goalkeeper. He’s a frontrunner for the Golden Glove and has only conceded 19 goals in 23 Premier League games this season.
Raya has also been a standout figure in his first season in the UEFA Champions League, keeping four clean sheets in seven games – which involves his sensational performance in the penalty-shootout win over FC Porto in the Round of 16.
He has definitely fit in like a glove with the North London side and maintained a humble, composed attitude through his ups and downs. Raya can not take only care of himself on the pitch, but is also surprisingly sociable in interviews. Some of the interviews he’s given since moving to Arsenal have impressed fans, who are mostly astounded by his accent.
A rather notable example of this came in an interview Raya gave to Stadium Astro recently. Here, he was asked if he has tried the new Bukayo Saka Nandos’ hot sauce to which the goalkeeper simply replied he didn’t.
The Spaniard also indicated that he’d try it if Saka brought it training, but that he doesn’t like Nandos’ food. But it’s the way he conducted himself in this interview and his manner of speaking, especially his accent, that caught many fans off guard.
That is because the 28-year-old doesn’t have that typical ‘foreigner accent’ that many non-English players do. In fact, if a person heard him speak in fluent English without knowing his nationality, they’d automatically assume he’s an Englishman. It appears that living in England for so many years has helped Raya transform his personality to match that of an English native.
Most fans have quickly taken to notice that he’s developed a Lancashire accent. This is due to his origins at Championship club Blackburn Rovers, the first English club he played for. Raya had travelled to England as a 16-year-old to join Blackburn after impressing at Spanish club Cornella. He spent two years with their youth academy before being promoted to the first team as an 18-year-old.
It’s not that the 28-year-old hasn’t suffered his share of abuse in the lower leagues. He played in the Championship and League One for Blackburn, making nearly 100 appearances for them. Not just that, but the Spaniard also spent one season (2014-15) on loan playing for National League side Southport.
In an interview with Brentford’s media a few years ago, Raya recalled how he took English-speaking lessons after arriving in England in 2012. He revealed: “I had just turned 16. There was a cloud over Blackburn – it was always raining! It was completely different to home.
“I came to England with my mum and dad. They stayed for a few days, then left. I was lucky enough to have Hugo Fernández there and he was very supportive. During the week I was busy with training, English lessons and gym work, but at the weekend I’d be sat in a small room on my own. I was lucky that I could go across the road to the Mols family but it was definitely the hardest part of the week.”
It’s rather clear that with not much to do but training, Raya devoted himself to mastering the English language and improving his accent. With some fans also noting that his accent slightly resembles that spoken in West London, it’s definitely possible that the Spaniard probably enlisted a language-speaking coach to help him improve his accent after moving to Brentford in 2019.
It’s only logical for footballers to try and brush up their accents, as it helps them socialize better in the environment they’re around. Raya probably realized he had to speak English properly to communicate strongly with his English-speaking teammates, knowing how important communication is for goalkeepers.
Raya mostly likes to stay adrift of giving too many interviews, but definitely has the aptitude and ability to speak gracefully in front of a camera. Perhaps his impressive accent and growing popularity will give Arsenal more reasons for the goalkeeper to be more involved in post-match interviews or sit-down interactions going forward.
