Meet David Raya – the rondo-playing goalkeeper with Manchester United in his sights

It was in the small town of Cornellá, around 10 miles from Barcelona, that David Raya first learned how to be a goalkeeper – even though he had no interest in using his hands.

Raya's passion as a child was futsal – football's little brother, played five-a-side and on a smaller, hard pitch. He would play on Sunday mornings with friends and it was there that he developed the skills which have equipped him to be a very modern Premier League goalkeeper with Brentford, as comfortable with the ball at his feet as in his gloves.

"That concrete pitch was two minutes from my house, and I used to play in any position except under the goal," he tells Telegraph Sport. "I liked to touch the ball a lot, to be part of every play. I guess that's where the skill I have with my feet comes from – and in modern football that is what is demanded of a goalkeeper."

If Raya is the epitome of progressive thinking, then in Brentford he has found an ideal match. The west London club are so synonymous with their use of data and analytics that to mention it borders on cliché, but it would have been impossible for them to ignore the metrics which highlighted his ability on the floor.

Not that there is any room for complacency - hence his work with Brentford's goalkeeping coach Manu Sotelo at their Osterley training complex is centred as much on his ability to keep the ball in confined spaces as making spectacular saves.

"I've been working on coming out from the back since I was a child but now I'm trying to perfect it," he says. "I do rondos, things like that. It forces me to be cold-blooded and to have a lot of confidence in myself.

"You're always exposed to making a mistake, but I have to be calm enough not to get down when that happens. I know that this ability with my feet is something that sets me apart and I repeat to myself that I have to learn to forget the bad moments."

In truth, there have been few of those at Brentford, who have been on a steep upward trajectory ever since Raya arrived from Blackburn in 2019.

Amid the praise rightly lavished on the club's executives and backroom staff, who have overhauled everything from the stadium to the scouting network and the first team, the work of Thomas Frank is occasionally underplayed.

Yet Raya, 26, is in no doubt as to his importance. Put simply, the club's success simply cannot be divorced from the work of their head coach, who manages to combine both a meticulous eye for detail with an approachable manner.

"He's one of the team," Raya said. "He manages the dressing room with a strong hand but he is a beautiful person. Tactically, he is obsessed with attacking but he puts a lot of emphasis on the physical side because it is essential in our philosophy to press man-to-man."

Raya is an unapologetic football nut, who devours footage of other goalkeepers in action. His childhood idol was Iker Casillas; more recently, the likes of Alisson, Ederson, Manuel Neuer and Marc-Andre Ter Stegen have all had an influence.

On Saturday, he is pitted against another role model and compatriot in David de Gea, whose work at Manchester United has provided a rare shaft of light amid the gloom that has enveloped Old Trafford. Indeed, it says much about the recent histories of both clubs that Brentford arguably enter the match between them as favourites.

"I've watched a lot of him," he says. "For many years he has been Manchester United's guardian angel and maybe because he has been away from Spain for so long he is more valued in England. He's an absolutely elite goalkeeper."

And as for United? Is there a sense of a potentially historic opportunity, and a first win over them since 1938? Raya is hardly playing down the prospect.

"They need time, so I think it's a good time to play them. They are a sleeping giant, one of the best clubs in the world, but they still have to adjust to the new ideas of their manager."

In truth, these days must still be something of a dream for Raya and his team-mates: it is only eight years, after all, since he was playing at fifth-tier Southport, on loan from Blackburn.

Now, England is not just a place of work but his home – even to the extent that there have been suggestions the Football Association could seek to call him up to the national squad, as he qualifies through residency rules.

"I know that it's been said, but I didn't want to get a British passport because it would cancel out my Spanish passport, and I wasn't willing to do that. I talked about it with my agent, not so much to play for the national team but to avoid problems with Brexit, but in the end we didn't do it."

So has there been any approach from the FA? "Nobody has contacted me," he replies, firmly.

Instead, his sights are set on Spain, and building on his two friendly appearances by helping Brentford secure a third season of Premier League football. The chance to play at a World Cup is a powerful incentive, even if it would come at the expense of De Gea. But if the last few years have taught us anything, it is never to write off Raya - or his club.