Barcelona is signing Espanyol goalkeeper Joan Garc\u00eda, who was once linked to a move to Arsenal, to a six-year contract, the Spanish champion said Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The 24-year-old Garcia recently finished a stellar first season in La Liga when he led all goalkeepers in saves with an average of almost four a game.<\/p>\n
He will now join Espanyol\u2019s main rival on a contract until June 2031.<\/p>\n
Barcelona said it activated a release clause of 25 million euros ($28.5 million) and that Garcia is expected to sign the contract Friday in a \u201cprivate ceremony\u201d at the club’s offices.<\/p>\n
The fee could help Espanyol reinforce a squad after it only avoided relegation on the final day of the season.<\/p>\n
Garcia had been close to a possible move to Arsenal last summer after he helped Spain win Olympic gold in Paris. He stayed put and was one of Espanyol\u2019s best players.<\/p>\n
Garcia has yet to debut for Spain\u2019s senior side, but it’s considered only a matter of time before he does if he continues to play well. He helped Spain win the Olympic gold medal in Paris last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe time has come to part ways. Today I say goodbye to the club that has been my home since I was 15,\u201d he said on social media. \u201cI\u2019ve given everything to help the team, to represent this badge with the utmost dedication, and to live up to what it means to wear this shirt.”<\/p>\n
Garcia said he would understand the backlash from Espanyol fans for him joining its rival.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know this decision won\u2019t be easy for everyone to understand,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not asking you to do so. But I do want you to know that it was a carefully considered decision, considering not only my career, but also what\u2019s best for the club, my family, and me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Garcia’s arrival to Barcelona puts in question the role of veteran Marc-Andr\u00e9 ter Stegen, who was injured most of the season. Ter Stegen is under contract through 2028.<\/p>\n
Following Ter Stegen\u2019s injury, Barcelona convinced Wojciech Szcz\u0119sny to come out of retirement and sign a contract for the remainder of last season. Barcelona\u2019s other goalkeeper is Inaki Pena.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Barcelona is signing Espanyol goalkeeper Joan Garc\u00eda, who was once linked to a move to Arsenal, to a six-year contract, the Spanish champion said Wednesday. The 24-year-old Garcia recently finished a stellar first season in La Liga when he led all goalkeepers in saves with an average of almost four a game. He will now …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50286,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50284"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50287,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50284\/revisions\/50287"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}