David Raya has already agreed personal terms with Arsenal ahead of a move (Picture: Getty)
Arsenal have submitted their opening bid for Brentford goalkeeper David Raya, according to reports.
The offer is reported to be worth £20m plus £3m in add-ons – which is significantly less than Brentford’s £40m asking price.
Raya has already agreed personal terms with the Gunners and is keen to move to north London.
Mikel Arteta could not hide a huge smile when asked about Arsenal’s hopes of signing the 27-year-old Spaniard on Wednesday.
But there is still work to be done on the deal with Brentford keen to secure a much higher fee than what Arsenal have offered.
‘I hope [we get an offer], we are waiting to sell,’ Brentford boss Thomas Frank said earlier this week.
‘David would like to go. That’s fine for us. If a club want to buy [him] they just need to find out the price. So I guess it should be simple, but apparently it’s very difficult!
‘He’s worth £40m – I’d love to get that for him. He was one of the four best keepers in the Premier League last season. What is the price for a player with one year left? Declan Rice went to Arsenal for £105m – is that a fair price?
‘And Harry Kane, one year left, and they’re talking about £150m? Anyway, it’s not up to me. It’s always complicated. Two sides of the coin when it comes to negotiations and we meet somewhere in the middle.’
Brentford have already signed a replacement for Raya, bringing in Mark Flekken ahead of the new season.
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The offer is significantly less than his asking price…