Arsenal expect to complete the signing of goalkeeper Joan Garcia from Espanyol this summer, according to a report.
Pete O’Rourke reports for Football Insider that sources claim Arsenal expect to finally complete the signing of Espanyol’s Joan Garcia in the summer transfer window.
According to the report, Arsenal are now confident of agreeing a deal for Garcia, having failed to finalise the transfer last summer. The Gunners are also reportedly confident of signing Martin Zubimendi from Real Sociedad, suggesting a double La Liga swoop could be on the cards.
Arsenal only pivoted to a loan move for Neto from Bournemouth after their first-choice signing of Garcia didn’t pan out last summer, and Neto is set to return to his parent club in July.
James McNicholas recently reported for The Athletic that when Arsenal travelled to Spain to face Girona in January, they held talks with Garcia’s representatives. McNicholas added that the Gunners intend to return for the goalkeeper later this year.
Arsenal made a €25m (£20.8m) bid for Garcia on deadline day last summer, with the club having initially been assured that they would be able to sign Garcia for significantly less than his €30m release clause.
Yet once talks opened, it quickly became clear that Espanyol would only sell for the full clause.
‘Release clauses’ in Spain are actually buy-out clauses, and they require the buying club to provide the entire fee upfront. So both the value of the transfer and the payment terms were ultimately beyond what Arsenal wanted to offer. The situation may be different this summer.
Garcia has made 23 appearances for struggling Espanyol this season. Whilst the stats show that he’s overperforming against his expected goals conceded, his team’s poor performances have left him in a relegation battle with just three clean sheets.
Espanyol’s relegation would likely make negotiations a little easier for Arsenal, but right now they’re still one point clear of the bottom three.