SINGAPORE — Is the world’s most expensive goalkeeper now an understudy? Kepa Arrizabalaga joined Arsenal at the start of July in a surprise move after the Gunners triggered his £5 million release clause to sign him from Chelsea.

It came almost seven years to the day since the Blues paid a record £71.6m to take the Spaniard from Athletic Club. While his stock has fallen considerably since then, it was nevertheless something of a surprise that Kepa would join a club with a well-established No. 1 in David Raya.

Long since discarded by Chelsea as a viable option for their first team, Kepa spent the 2023-24 campaign at Real Madrid where he was ostensibly a replacement for Thibaut Courtois — ironically the man he initially replaced at Chelsea in 2018 — after Courtois suffered a serious knee injury. An adductor problem of his own forced Kepa back to the sidelines and gave Andriy Lunin a chance he was not about to relinquish, remaining first choice at the Bernabéu for the rest of the campaign.

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Better days came at Bournemouth in August 2024 where, in another ironic twist, he replaced Neto, who joined Arsenal on a season-long loan. Kepa kept only seven clean sheets in 26 appearances, but appeared to have re-established himself as a No. 1 once again.

So how could things play out at Arsenal this season? Could the Gunners be about to go through another tricky goalkeeping situation as Raya experienced when signing — initially on loan — in the summer of 2023, eventually usurping Aaron Ramsdale, a fan favourite at the time, as Arsenal’s No1?

Why did Arsenal sign Kepa?

There has been something of a shift in Arsenal’s approach to squad-building in recent windows. Arteta once suggested he would prefer a smaller group of elite players to work with, but of late he has increasingly looked to add depth across the group. Raya is not rotated. Arsenal played 58 matches in all competitions last season and the Spain international played in 55 of them. Teenager Jack Porter started against Bolton Wanderers in the EFL Cup third round, Tommy Setford played against Preston North End in the EFL Cup fourth round and Neto’s sole appearance for the club was a UEFA Champions League dead rubber against Girona in January.

However, Arteta’s rhetoric during the preseason tour to Asia has been to underline how injuries cost Arsenal dearly last season and to talk up the physical demands of trying to win on four fronts (Premier League, UEFA Champions League, and both domestic Cups). That pressure has led the Gunners to abandon their tier system of signings.

“Tier 1 means that they have the capacity to be starters basically,” Arteta said this week. “But the Tier 1, 2, 3 system I don’t believe in that much now. The way the game’s evolving, the demands we put in with 70, 75 games per season.

“At the end we want to build a team, like other clubs already have, where you look at the squad and you cannot really identify who is going to play tomorrow. If we get to that point, and that competitiveness has as well the right level of co-operation between the players, that’s what we want.”

Kepa, 30, has had his detractors, but he is of an altogether different pedigree to Neto, Raya’s previous competitor. As Raya put it: “Knowing how the signings are going, knowing that we have two top players in each position — that’s the way the boss wants to work and that’s how it is.”

How has Raya handled the news?

Speaking to ESPN in Singapore, Raya was asked what he had been told by Arteta following Kepa’s arrival and specifically whether he had been given assurances he was still Arsenal’s No. 1.

“Nothing,” said Raya. “He just came as a new teammate and to add another goalie to the group. The manager hasn’t said anything so we will see what happens.” But does it not put more pressure on him to have the world’s most expensive goalkeeper coming in? “No, I think it is just a healthy relationship,” Raya replied. “We are friends. We have been together in the national team and now we are here so we have that healthy relationship and, let’s say, ‘healthy partnership’ in goal. We know how tough it is to be a goalkeeper. There’s only one goalkeeper playing and we will see what happens. That is the job of the boss and he will decide.”

He has, of course, been here before. Ramsdale enjoyed a promising start to his Arsenal career after joining the Gunners in 2021 from Sheffield United. However, within two years, the Gunners moved for Raya, partly on the recommendation of goalkeeping coach Iñaki Caña, who had worked with Raya at Brentford.

What followed was an awkward period in which Raya gradually replaced Ramsdale as Arsenal’s first choice. Arteta’s public messaging during this period wasn’t particularly clear, and sources have told ESPN the Spaniard felt Raya was unfairly treated by some observers as he started playing more often. Sources say the coaching staff viewed Raya’s distribution and calmness as key attributes that gave him the edge.

For Raya, the experience can help him this time. “It would help anyone,” said Raya. “Competing in every single position, that raises your level. I will raise my level and he will raise his level. That will only benefit the team. That’s the main thing.”

How does Kepa compare to Raya?

Looking at the data for both goalkeepers from their last two league seasons, Kepa made 45 appearances in that time for Real Madrid and Bournemouth while David Raya made 70. Kepa had a slightly higher save percentage (72.7% to 69.3%) and a better pass completion percentage (74.1% to 70.7%), but the disparity in matches played makes that edge almost non-existent.

Perhaps of greatest significance, Raya made 11 errors leading to a shot by an opponent. Kepa made two in the same period. Raya’s figure is the highest of any Premier League goalkeeper in the past two seasons.

What will Arteta do?

Although it can be futile trying to draw meaningful conclusions from pre-planned penalty shootouts at the end of friendly matches, Kepa will have received a notable confidence boost from saving three spot kicks as Arsenal lost 6-5 to AC Milan in Singapore (having won the actual match 1-0 thanks to a goal from Bukayo Saka). Sources say Arsenal’s coaches have been impressed with Kepa’s attitude and willingness to learn; Caña could be seen telling Kepa where to put his hands when he doesn’t have the ball during an open training session two days later.

Arteta said: “Kepa is not from very far from where I live [in San Sebastián] and when you see him walk through the door, immediately at the start, what do you think? I say, ‘Woah, Oh my god. Straight away, What a joy to work with.'”

Both goalkeepers played 45 minutes against Milan, but it is logical to assume Raya will start the season as Arsenal’s No. 1. He has won the Premier League’s Golden Glove award — given to the keeper with the most clean sheets — for the past two seasons. Perhaps Kepa’s arrival will also enable Arteta to do something he previously suggested was on his mind: substituting goalkeepers.

“I have few regrets, but one of them is that on two occasions, I felt after 60 minutes and 85 minutes of two games in this period to change the goalkeeper in that moment,” Arteta said in September 2023, not long after Raya had joined. “I didn’t do it, I didn’t have the courage to do it. But I’m able to take a winger or striker and put a centre-back on to play a back five to hold on to a result. We drew those games, and I was so unhappy.”

Sources have told ESPN that one of the matches he is referring to is a 2-2 draw at Liverpool in April of that year. In his ongoing search for the marginal gains needed to win a first trophy in five years, Arteta may be about to extend his innovative thinking to the goalkeeping department.