David Raya is set to become only the third person to go from non-league football to a Champions League final when Arsenal face Paris St-Germain on Saturday. At 30 years old, the Arsenal goalkeeper is about to add another rare line to a career that has already taken him from a Southport loan spell to the sport's biggest stage.
That is why Raya's name is drawing attention now. He has already won the Premier League with Arsenal and the European Championship with Spain, but the final against the holders is the moment that links his present to the lowest rung of his professional climb. He joined Southport on loan from Blackburn Rovers as a 19-year-old making his first-team breakthrough, then went on to help Southport in a 1-0 FA Cup third-round loss to Derby County in 2015. Before that, he had spent his youth years at Cornella, a Third Division club on the outskirts of Barcelona, and moved to Blackburn in 2012 through a partnership that brought young Spanish players in for trials.
The Southport spell mattered because it gave Raya minutes he was not getting elsewhere. When he arrived at Blackburn in 2012, Paul Robinson, Jake Kean and Simon Eastwood were ahead of him, and he was not starting in the academy when he left his hometown. After two years in England, he dropped down three leagues to join fifth-tier Southport for four months, and in September 2014 he was in a side beaten 3-0 by Macclesfield Town at Moss Rose in front of fewer than 1,500 spectators. That is a long way from a Champions League final, and it is exactly why the journey stands out.
Steve Finnan and Chris Smalling are the only other players identified as having made the same move from non-league football to the Champions League final. Finnan won the 2005 title with Liverpool, while Smalling was an unused substitute when Manchester United lost the 2011 final to Barcelona. Southport coach Paul Carden, who came in after Martin Foyle was sacked and had also worked in Blackburn's academy, said Raya's rise could not have been scripted. He said you would not have bet on it, but quickly saw the goalkeeper had real ability and had taken a path that few young players are willing to choose.
For Arsenal, the final is about silverware. For Raya, it also closes a loop that started with a loan move and a step down the pyramid. The question now is not whether he belongs at this level. It is how much higher his story can still go if he helps Arsenal beat Paris St-Germain on Saturday.
