{"id":418,"date":"2026-03-18T10:55:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T10:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/osport.com.ng\/?p=418"},"modified":"2026-03-18T10:55:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T10:55:00","slug":"thierry-henry-backs-27million-arsenal-star-to-win-player-of-the-season-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/?p=418","title":{"rendered":"Thierry Henry backs \u00a327million Arsenal star to win player of the season | Football"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Thierry Henry is full of admiration for the way David Raya has grown into his role at Arsenal (Picture: CBS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Thierry Henry has backed an unsung Arsenal hero to be a major contender to win the player of the season award.<\/p>\n

The Gunners\u2019 pursuit of an unprecedented quadruple gained further momentum last night after a 2-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen guaranteed them a place in the Champions League quarter finals, where they will meet Sporting Lisbon. <\/p>\n

After a 1-1 draw in Germany last week the tie was evenly poised, but Arsenal rarely looked like failing to make home advantage count and eased to a routine victory. <\/p>\n

Eberechi\u2019s first half thunderbolt set Mikel Arteta\u2019s side on their way and the Arsenal manager was afforded the luxury of resting several key players ahead of Sunday\u2019s Carabao Cup final against Manchester City when Declan Rice\u2019s long-range strike put the game to bed just after the hour mark. <\/p>\n

An uncomfortable last five minutes was only avoided, however, as a consequence of David Raya\u2019s latest astonishing save.<\/p>\n

The Spain international, who came to Arsenal\u2019s rescue in Saturday\u2019s 2-0 win over Everton, leapt to his right to claw away Christian Kofane\u2019s point blank effort in the closing stages and preserve another clean sheet.<\/p>\n

Henry played in Arsenal teams that boasted goalkeepers of world class repute in David Seaman and Jens Lehmann and suggested Raya is operating at a similar level this season.<\/p>\n

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David Raya produced another goalkeeping masterclass against Bayer Leverkusen (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He told CBS: \u2018This guy should be in contention to be player of the season because what he does for Arsenal every single time. <\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s very difficult sometimes to see what a goalkeeper does but he cannot make you win the game. <\/p>\n

\u2018He can make you hope that you\u2019re not losing it by making saves but he does that two to three times every single game. It\u2019s just outstanding.\u2019<\/p>\n

Rice is arguably the outstanding candidate to be crowned player of the season from an Arsenal perspective, while defensive linchpin Gabriel also boasts serious credentials, but the midfield powerhouse, like Henry, is full of admiration for his goalkeeper.<\/p>\n

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David Raya made a sensational save to deny Christian Kofane (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018He deserves every bit of credit he\u2019s getting,\u2019 said Rice. \u2018I wish people could come in every day and see how he trains. <\/p>\n

\u2018Because the intensity he trains at and the level that he trains at there\u2019s no reason why he\u2019s not doing what he\u2019s doing on the pitch it\u2019s incredible to see him every day. <\/p>\n

\u2018The effort with the lads, he\u2019s turned into a real leader for us and when you\u2019ve got a keeper like that it gives everyone confidence and yes, he\u2019s incredible.\u2019<\/p>\n

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Declan Rice produced another Champions League man of the match display (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Arteta, meanwhile, fielded heavy criticism two-and-a-half years ago when he made the divisive decision to sanction a move for Raya and ditch fans\u2019 favourite Aaron Ramsdale.<\/p>\n

The Arsenal manager has subsequently been thoroughly vindicated and was happy to join in with the praise for the former Brentford No.1 after last night\u2019s display.<\/p>\n

He said: \u2018I don\u2019t know what they generated, again in two games it was a set-piece last time and then a header before that, and today an action. He makes an incredible save, that\u2019s why he\u2019s here, he\u2019s absolutely amazing.\u2019<\/p>\n

Arrow<\/title>\n<\/svg>MORE: Pep Guardiola blows kisses at Real Madrid star during furious bust-up<\/span><\/p>\n

Arrow<\/title>\n<\/svg>MORE: Troy Deeney names two clubs that will deny Arsenal the Champions League<\/span><\/p>\n

Arrow<\/title>\n<\/svg>MORE: Frank Leboeuf mocks Liam Rosenior decision against PSG \u2013 \u2018It\u2019s crazy and insane\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n
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Thierry Henry is full of admiration for the way David Raya has grown into his<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":419,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}