David Raya is the persistent type.

It took him two trials before earning a scholarship with Rovers, and two bites of the play-off cherry with Brentford to finally secure a spot in the Premier League.

Raya landed in East Lancashire from the Catalan area of Spain nine years ago with a pair of gloves and a dream, one he achieved on Saturday as he helped Brentford become the 50th different Premier League team.

Inbetween came time with Southport, relegation and subsequent promotion with Rovers, an horrific facial injury, being left out by Tony Mowbray and then play-off heartbreak 12 months ago.

There has been Premier League interest, a possible link-up with former Brentford coach Inaki Cana at Arsenal mooted, but with a new deal and same desire, the 25-year-old will finally get his shot in the top flight next season.

“From that dream having been a 16-year-old kid coming to a new country and not knowing the culture or the language, everything has paid off,” Raya said.

The disappointments along the way have only added fuel to his fire.

His departure from Rovers was one he didn’t foresee coming, but felt staying could have seen him become ‘comfortable’ and one thing his career has shown so far is that he doesn’t shy away from big decisions.

Even after securing promotion with Brentford, he was quick to thank Rovers for their part in his journey, featuring in 108 matches between his debut in April 2015 and his eventual departure four years later.

But it was with Brentford, the club where Rovers were relegated from the Championship in 2017, that has taken Raya into the top flight.

“I’ve come a long way. I’ve matured, I have Blackburn to thank for making me the player and man I am today, but this club is amazing,” Raya explained.

“From the day I walked in two years they welcomed me with open arms and made me feel like one of them since the first day.

“I’m happy for everyone, especially for the fans. They deserved that after this year.

“We are a group of players but we’re a big family, from the owner to the staff to the players to the B team, we’re a big, big family and we’ve shown that through the season.

“We’ve had ups and downs, we had the chance to get promoted automatically again, we were top of the league at one point but things didn’t go our way but you can’t beat getting promoted at Wembley.”

He left Rovers in a deal worth an initial £3m, rising to £5m upon bonuses being achieved, such as the one which has seen the Bees secure promotion.

Raya finished the 2018/19 campaign out of the side as Mowbray handed an opportunity to Jayson Leutwiler, a decision he told the Lancashire Telegraph he understood and was comfortable with.

It almost paid off immediately, only for disappointment in last year’s play-off final against Fulham, a 2-1 defeat after extra-time, Raya caught out by a Joe Bryan free kick, one of two goals scored by the full back.

So there was as much relief as enjoyment around the Bees camp having gone so close to automatic promotion, only to fall short, in each of the last two seasons.

“It’s a dream come true, we can now say we’re a Premier League team and Premier League players,” Raya added.

“I’m over the moon, very happy for everyone and especially for the fans.

“For everybody, last year we didn’t have the fans, lost in extra time and it was hard to take, we only had 10 days off and to do it this season, the same way but winning the final, it was more special and shows the character that everyone has.

“We’ll need that for next season and even more.

“It hasn’t sunk in yet, let’s enjoy the moment, enjoy the whole summer and then be ready for next season because it’s going to be a big challenge.

“We’ve played a lot of Premier League teams already and shown we can compete.”

Coming up against the very best strikers in the world is the next challenge for Raya who is three games shy of a century for Brentford, and already with 34 clean under his belt.

“Of course, you dream since you are a little boy to play against the best and that’s the best league in the world, it’s going to be amazing, a big, big test but we’ll be ready,” he added.

“We’re going to work very hard over the summer and be ready to go and test ourselves next season and hopefully we can have a right good go.”