Former Manchester City and Nottingham Forest goalkeeper Stefan Ortega is on a “four-man shortlist” of candidates to replace Arsenal no.2 Kepa Arrizabalaga, according to reports.

TEAMtalk claim that the Gunners are anticipating the departure of Kepa, who has requested to leave the Emirates in search of first-team football.

Several names are believed to be under consideration as potential replacements. Along with Ortega, Ex-Leeds shot-stopper Illan Meslier is someone who has been frequently mentioned.

Former Arsenal loanee Mat Ryan is also in the frame, having recently left Levante, while Yann Sommer (who was Inter Milan’s no.1 last season) is an option as well.

Arteta has a history of signing former Man City players

Manager Mikel Arteta has had a tendency to raid the club where he spent some time as assistant manager to Pep Guardiola.

Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko were both signed from the Etihad 4 years ago. While Raheem Sterling had already left the Cityzens when he joined the Gunners on loan from Chelsea, he had spent some time working with Arteta in Manchester.

A move for Ortega would be slightly different, as the German never worked under Arteta, having joined City in 2022.

Arsenal are not willing to spend any money on Raya’s understudy

The fact that all four targets mentioned are now free agents does demonstrate the reluctance to invest heavily in a backup option for David Raya.

Considering the Spaniard rarely gets injured, it seems like a wise decision, especially as sporting director Andrea Berta is hoping to invest heavily in other positions.

The London club’s top target is believed to be Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers, and he is likely to cost in excess of £100m. Adding another midfielder and a right-back to the squad will not come cheap either, so there won’t be much left to spend on a reserve keeper anyway.