David Raya was substituted at half-time of Spain’s match against Colombia on Friday, after making his second start in their last three games.

Arsenal’s David Raya is yet to establish himself as a regular starter for the Spanish national team, but he’s been consistently involved for the last couple of years.

Raya has featured in every single Spain squad since his debut on March 26th, 2022, yet he’d only made two appearances on the pitch before last November.

With the goalkeeper now playing for a top Premier League club on a weekly basis, you’d think his chances of inclusion in the Spain lineup would improve.

That seemed to be the case as he started against Cyprus in November and Colombia on Friday night, two starts in Spain’s last three games.

Raya put in a solid first-half performance, making a couple of saves and completing 20 of his 21 attempted passes, with just one long ball going astray.

Yet the goalkeeper was then substituted at half-time, raising some concern among Arsenal fans.

The good news is that there’s no suggestion of any injury. The decision to withdraw Raya was seemingly simply to give Real Sociedad’s Alex Remiro his international debut.

Remiro went on to concede once in the second half, as Spain lost 1-0.

Unai Simon still appears to be Spain’s number-one goalkeeper, with 38 caps compared to Raya’s four or Remiro’s one.

You’d expect Simon to be in goal against Brazil on Tuesday, and he’ll likely start in the European Championships this summer.

But Raya didn’t make any mistakes in his cameo this week, so he’ll continue to put doubts in the mind of Luis de la Fuente, particularly if his strong Arsenal performances continue until June.