Thomas Frank expects the exit of David Raya from Brentford to Arsenal to be completed imminently.
The Raya saga has been one that has gone on for weeks now, with Bees boss Frank admitting that the Spanish goalkeeper was for sale for £40million as far back as May, after Brentford’s final match of the 2022/23 season.
Raya will eventually depart for Arsenal, on an initial £3m season-long loan deal that includes a £27m option to buy.
Frank said on Friday: “We all know there have been a lot of rumours. I expect that deal will soon be completed with Arsenal. He is not here at the moment and he won’t be involved on Sunday.”
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So far this summer, Brentford have made Kevin Schade’s loan deal from Freiburg permanent for a club-record transfer fee of £21m. They then quickly broke that record again by signing centre-back Nathan Collins from Wolves for £23m.
Their third piece of business was the signing of another Freiburg player — goalkeeper Mark Flekken for £11m — in a premeditated effort to replace the outgoing Raya.
“I expect us not to sell anyone… I hope”, Frank said. “We are out there seeing if there is one player we want, but we are not in a rush, not in a need.”
Asked how transfer rumours affecting preparation at the start of the new season could be prevented, Frank replied: “Make sure the transfer window closes before the season starts. That’s the only way to prevent it. I would prefer that, but it can’t happen.”
Brentford’s first opponents this season are Tottenham. The north London club have been rocked by losing all-time leading goalscorer Harry Kane to Bayern Munich, but Frank still acknowledges their threat.
“Tottenham are one of the biggest clubs in the world. They have fantastic players. They have appointed an exciting coach in Ange [Postecoglou]. Their pre-season games look exciting,” he said.
Frank said of Kane: “I don’t know what to expect. Probably, he will not be involved — but he is an unbelievably good player.”
He joked: “I went to the Shakhtar [Donetsk pre-season] game when he scored four goals and thought, hmmm, he is going to be a very good player one day.”
