According to David Ornstein of the Athletic, Arsenal are pushing ahead to sign Espanyol star Joan Garcia after agreeing to sell Aaron Ramsdale to Southampton.
The Gunners are close to pocketing €29 million for their former No. 1. That’s a good sum of money, although we expected more. However, the Premier League giants can now use this sum to get close to Garcia, a 2024 Olympic Champion.
How did Joan Garcia fare for the Espanyol team?
The 23-year-old is a starter for the Castilians, and he has helped them achieve promotion to the Spanish top-tier from La Liga 2 in the last campaign. It took a while for him to break into the Espanyol team, but he has been impressive since getting opportunities to start between the sticks.
He has attracted interest from top clubs like Real Madrid, Tottenh*m Hotsp*r and Arsenal after his consistent displays for Spain’s U21 and U23 sides.
Arteta and his team were closely monitoring Garcia on the recommendation of goalkeeping coach Inaki Cana. Espanyol are asking for €25 million, and it is said that Mikel Arteta’s side have agreed on personal terms with the Spaniard.
Arsenal might have to meet the Joan Garcia’s release clause to speed up the process which is still believed to be worth £21m, according to sources.
[John Cross and RyanTaylor / Mirror ] pic.twitter.com/H6GxUB8Qis
— SENTZ🌟 (@SENTZ05) August 29, 2024
However, when we talk about business, we know how cold-hearted these verbal deals are. Spending cash is the only real deal.
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The Gunners will look for an English player as a third backup after the loan departure of Karl Hein to Real Valladolid and Arsenal already have established links with Wolverhampton Wanderers’s star Dan Bentley this summer.
Is Joan Garcia a valuable asset for Arsenal
Garcia has made 30 total appearances for the Perquitos, conceded 22 times, and kept 12 clean sheets. In his last 14 games, he has had an impressive save percentage of 82.5.
A person who watches modern-day style of football appreciates a goalkeeper’s ability to initiate attacks from the deep and Garcia is comfortable with the possession-based football that Arteta likes to manoeuvre and is good at initiating attacks.
Joan Garcia: Distribution pic.twitter.com/uNmKzsg6My
— Jack Frost (@thehollowhorn) August 28, 2024
Arsenal needed a strong personality, someone like Raya or Ramsdale who could handle the criticism during negative hours. Garcia will face a different environment in England and will need time to adjust as he is pretty inexperienced here.
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His long passing is weak (44%), compared to his short passing (92%). He loves doing traditional goalkeeping off the line and playing short passes when the centre halves move ahead.
He has a cross-claims of 2.14 per 90, again decent stats for a backup. The shot-stopper boasts a 16.1% cross-prevention rate (ahead of Raya in this skillset).
Many would say why we are ready to spend big on Garcia. We could have searched for a homegrown player via homegrown quota. Edu and Arteta might have seen something different in the Espanyol star and are ready to offer him a chance to shine at the Emirates.
The player might succeed Raya later on, but for now he is destined to start as the second keeper. Every player has ambitions going forward, and Garcia might be wanting to play as the top choice.
He has a lot of years ahead of him and might request a number one spot in the future or move elsewhere. We have seen similar patterns with Bernd Leno and Ramsdale.
The Spanish star has earlier stated that he wants to be a starter for his national team. You never know he might even take Raya’s spot.
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It will be interesting to see how he fits into the manager’s plans. We expect the La Liga star to play an important role in see-off games.
