Blackburn Rovers Born in
Barcelona,
Catalonia, Raya began his career in his native Spain and combined
goalkeeping with playing as an
outfield player in
futsal. He later played youth football for
Cornellà, before moving to
England to join
Blackburn Rovers on a scholarship in July 2012, aged 17. Two years earlier, the transfer of Hugo Fernández to
Ewood Park had led to an agreement between the two clubs for Cornellà players to join Blackburn Rovers for trials. Raya gained his first senior experience with a four-month spell on
loan at
Conference Premier club
Southport during the first half of the
2014–15 season and made 24 appearances. After his return to Ewood Park, he made two
late-season Championship appearances and signed a new three-year contract in April 2015. He made 47 appearances during the
2017–18 season and helped the club to automatic promotion straight back to the Championship.
Brentford On 6 July 2019, Raya signed for Championship club
Brentford on a four-year contract for an undisclosed fee, reported to be in the region of £3 million. Raya's performances during the first half of the
2019–20 season earned him a nomination for Goalkeeper of the Year at the 2020 London Football Awards and his 16
clean sheets in league matches during the season saw him share the
EFL Golden Glove award with
Bartosz Białkowski. Raya made 49 appearances during a season which ended with a 2–1
2020 Championship play-off final defeat to
West London rivals Fulham. Injury and transfer speculation led to Raya being left out of head coach
Thomas Frank's matchday squads during the
2020–21 pre-season and early in the regular season. After being reintegrated with two
EFL Cup appearances and
captaining the team in both matches, he signed a new four-year contract on 2 October 2020. Raya finished the 2020–21 season with 48 appearances, 17 clean sheets and a promotion medal, In his growing role as a
sweeper-keeper, Raya attempted 300 more passes than any other Championship goalkeeper during the season. He returned to outdoor training on 10 January 2022. After a
behind closed doors friendly appearance on 1 February 2022, Raya made his return to competitive match play with a start in a 4–1
FA Cup fourth round defeat to
Everton four days later. Raya continued as a starter in league matches during the
2022–23 season and his performances during an unbeaten January 2023 (during which Brentford challenged the
European places) saw him nominated for the
Premier League Player of the Month award. That same month, Raya rejected a second offer of a new contract.
Arsenal 2023–24 season On 15 August 2023, Raya completed a season-long loan move to
Arsenal, becoming the fifteenth player from Spain to represent Arsenal's first team. Arsenal paid £3 million to complete the loan deal, which had a purchase option of £27 million. As part of the deal, Raya signed a two-year contract extension with Brentford, which also included a club option for an additional 12 months. On 17 September, he made his debut as a starter for Arsenal against
Everton at
Goodison Park, replacing
Aaron Ramsdale as Arsenal's starting goalkeeper. Raya would later make his Arsenal home and
Champions League debut against
PSV Eindhoven on 20 September, keeping a clean sheet as the Gunners ran out 4–0 winners. On 24 September, Raya started in the first
North London derby of the season against
Tottenham Hotspur and had a mixed performance. Discussing Raya's replacement of Ramsdale as Arsenal's starting goalkeeper,
BBC journalist
Phil McNulty stated in November 2023 that manager
Mikel Arteta had to "face inevitable scrutiny about whether he has also reduced Arsenal's effectiveness and fluency by applying a fix to something that was not broken." On 12 March 2024, Raya saved two penalties in a penalty shootout win against
Porto in the Champions League round of 16, helping Arsenal reach the quarter finals for the first time since 2010, which McNulty stated "settled all lingering arguments about his status as Arsenal's first-choice goalkeeper". On 20 April, Raya kept a sixth consecutive away clean sheet in the Premier League, becoming the second goalkeeper in the competition's history to achieve this feat, after
Edwin van der Sar did so in 2008–2009. On 4 May, he was confirmed as the outright winner of the 2023–24
Premier League Golden Glove, having kept the most clean sheets (16) of any goalkeeper in the season. In the game against
Aston Villa on 24 August, he made a one-handed stop to keep out
Ollie Watkins's close-range header, which was named that month's
Premier League Save of the Month. On 19 September, he saved a penalty against Italian side
Atalanta taken by
Mateo Retegui and the rebound header, becoming the fourth Arsenal goalkeeper to save a penalty in the Champions League, after
Richard Wright,
Jens Lehmann and
Łukasz Fabiański. In his post-match interview, Raya credited Arsenal's goalkeeping coach
Iñaki Caña for the role he played in his double save against Atalanta. He was later voted as Arsenal's Player of the Month for September. On 27 December, Raya claimed a clean sheet against
Ipswich Town, his 23rd clean sheet in 50 Premier League games for Arsenal. In doing so, Raya broke
David Seaman's record (22) set in 1993 for the most clean sheets kept by an Arsenal goalkeeper in his first 50 Premier League appearances. Raya went onto secure his second consecutive Premier League Golden Glove, sharing the award with
Nottingham Forest goalkeeper
Matz Sels, after both kept 13 clean sheets.
2025–26 season On 13 September 2025, Raya made his 100th appearance for Arsenal in a 3–0 home win against
Nottingham Forest, also recording his 42nd clean sheet for the club. ==International career==