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It doesn't take very long in the company of David Raya to understand what a massive impact Arsenal goalkeeping coach Inaki Cana has had on his career.
'When I got to Brentford he changed my way of playing, my way of seeing the game,' he says. 'He has a way of understanding football and he demanded certain things of me that no one had before.'
The two of them were together for six months in West London and Raya would go on to help get Brentford promoted to the Premier League, and get himself in the Spain team.
It's on international duty that he is giving this interview. There's a reticence at first to talk club football but he's aware that he's left a debate raging back in England over who should be Arsenal's number one.
On Saturday it will be Aaron Ramsdale because loanee Raya still belongs to opponent Brentford, but 12 times this season it's been the 28-year-old Spaniard.Does he feel the debate is exaggerated because his rival is an England international? 'Well, that's you [saying that] I'm not going to get involved in that,' he says. 'Everyone has their opinion. If they want to debate let them. I have a very good relationship with Aaron and both of us are there to help the team. In the end it is the manager who chooses who plays.
Arsenal fans are divided. Some believe Raya will eventually prove himself to be an upgrade. Others believe his signing tried to fix something that wasn't broken.
What's clear is that he is very sure about what kind of keeper he needs to be – it's the type that Cana first demanded at Brentford.
Of those six months in the Championship he says: 'He wanted me to be more proactive than reactive. A proactive goalkeeper is someone who prevents things from happening, not just one who reacts to a shot. He wants his goalkeeper to prevent the team from conceding chances.'
There are risks involved and it also means a keeper can stand out less. 'People don't notice you because they don't see you making so many saves,' he says.
'They don't see for example that you have taken a position a bit higher up the pitch for when the ball is played in behind. Or you've intercepted a pass instead of turning and then having to make the save. Or being in a slightly higher position when crosses come to be able to claim them.
'Inaki made me see these things. Before that I was a very reactive keeper and I played further back because I was quick and I could arrive at places perhaps other goalkeepers couldn't. But now playing a bit higher up I still reach those places and I cover more of my area.'
The aggressive positioning has become his trademark. His detractors would argue it's been his undoing a couple of times so far this season. He argues it's been to his betterment, although he can still improve.My aerial game five or six years ago was not so good in terms of the statistics for dealing with corners and crosses. Now I'm up towards the top of the table in terms of crosses caught,' says the six footer.
'Before I would wait on my line and wait for the shot or header to make that save that it's better not to have to make.
'But you can always get better in everything. There is no ceiling. There are always things that can be improved. I need to keep proving myself and I think in a couple of years I will be in my prime.'
Perhaps there is another reason why Raya divides opinion. He comes with the reputation of being as good as any keeper with his feet. He laughs at the suggestion Jurgen Klopp did him no favours saying he played out from the back 'like a No. 10'.
'Well if you look at the stats and then say I can only play with my feet, the stats tell another story, they make a lie of that,' he says. 'Everyone has the right to a voice and an opinion. As players we have to take it and not let it affect us.'
He's insightful when asked to elaborate on how he manages to deal with errors during games. There is an important part played by sports psychologists and a part played by upbringing too. He moved from Catalan club Cornella to Blackburn Rovers when he was only 16.
'I don't think you can train for that precise moment after you've made a mistake but it's something that in the end is within you, it depends on how strong you are.
'I had to mature much sooner and that is what has made me so strong mentally, I missed my parents and I realised that an error on the pitch should not affect me in the moment, even if it did afterwards.
'Of course, it's not good to commit mistakes but there will always be errors. And there are errors that perhaps people don't even notice where I shouldn't have come out, I should have stayed back a bit. Mistakes that people don't notice because they didn't end in goals but I notice and I analyse them with the goalkeeper coaches and that is what makes me a better keeper.'
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