Arsenal are ‘close’ to landing Espanyol goalkeeper Joan Garcia in the coming weeks, according to reports – with Gunners boss Mikel Arteta keen on signing the goalkeeper to challenge David Raya for first-team minutes.
The Gunners’ season came to an end on Wednesday evening after a 3-1 aggregate loss to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League semi-finals, heading into their remaining three games in the league knowing that they can’t win the title and even then,
The report by The Independent states that Arsenal need to sign players to ‘complete or complement’ key positions, something that the recruitment team have been working on for a number of months.
And with that in mind, the Gunners are ‘close’ to signing Garcia as a challenger to Raya, who will see his backup Neto depart this summer after joining on loan from Bournemouth at the start of the season.
Raya came in similar circumstances, challenging Aaron Ramsdale for a first-team spot in north London upon joining from Brentford back in the 2023/24 campaign, and he made his debut just a month later, where he hasn’t looked back since.
But with Ramsdale having departed for Southampton last season, Garcia could come in to rival Raya for the No. 1 shirt – with the 24-year-old having been a key starter for Espanyol this season, all but keeping the Catalonian side in the division with just 44 goals conceded in La Liga throughout 34 matches.
Espanyol boss Manolo Gonzalez even compared the stopper to Lionel Messi earlier this season, for how crucial he was to his team. The gaffer said:
“Joan Garcia will be a world reference, without a doubt. Hopefully, because he deserves it, by level and by person. This is the same as when Barcelona had Messi. There was a stuck game and he solved it.”
At just 24 years of age, Garcia has already made 62 appearances for Espanyol, alongside winning a gold medal with Spain’s Olympic team last summer and featuring twice for their under-21 side earlier in his career – potentially adding to Arsenal’s Spanish contingent of Raya, Mikel Merino and inbound signing Martin Zubimendi, who has reportedly agreed personal terms with the Gunners.
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