Arsenal’s David Raya given permission to face parent club Brentford

Brentford have given David Raya permission to play against them in the Carabao Cup third round match scheduled for Wednesday, September 27th. The Spanish keeper is on a season-long loan to Arsenal, which means that he cannot play against his parent club in the Premier League. But the Carabao Cup is different. Rule 6.3 states:

Players registered on a temporary basis will not be eligible to play unless the club holding his full registration gives its written consent (also subject to any restrictions on the number of loan players prescribed by applicable Premier League Rules or League Regulations).

Arsenal sought that permission and Brentford granted it, per football.london. It will likely be Raya’s second appearance in an Arsenal shirt. He’s also expected to start in the Champions League the week before the cup fixture. Aaron Ramsdale plays in the Premier League, David Raya plays in the cups. At least that is the presumed split.

Good on Brentford for granting Raya permission to play. They didn’t have to. They could have forced Mikel Arteta to play Ramsdale or, if he wanted to rotate, Karl Hein. On the other hand, it’s not a huge surprise. It seems unnecessarily antagonistic to say no. Clubs need to maintain solid, working relationships with each other for transfers and other matters, and whether a player can play in a single match is small potatoes.

Even though it’s believed that Arsenal will exercise their option to buy David Raya for £27M at the end of the loan, that’s not set in stone. He extended his contract with Brentford before the move, and there is some possibility he returns to the club in the summer. They have an interested in maintaining their relationship with him, too.