Arsenal are seemingly the best-placed team to sign Joan Garcia this summer, with the player preferring the Premier League and his release clause now fixed for a while longer.
Espanyol goalkeeper Joan Garcia has recently been linked with FC Barcelona, among a whole host of other clubs, but that move has been played down over the last few days.
Matteo Moretto reports that Garcia isn’t keen on joining Barcelona, and he’s informed his club of that. Moretto adds that Garcia would prefer to go to the Premier League.
Ivan Molero confirms for AS that Garcia’s camp and Espanyol sources have been considering the chances of a move to Barcelona as ‘nil’.
Molero adds that up to this point, Garcia’s priority has been the Premier League, and Arsenal are in the best position to capitalise.
There have been a couple of significant updates to the cost of a deal this week, with Garcia’s €25m release clause avoiding a couple of potential changes.
If Espanyol had been relegated, Garcia’s clause would have been slashed to closer to €15m. But they avoided the drop with a win on Saturday.
Conversely, the clause would have been boosted to €30m if Spain had called Garcia up on Monday. But they didn’t, naming Unai Simon, David Raya, and Alex Remiro as their three goalkeepers for the June fixtures.
After all that, the clause remains at €25m, or £21m. It will now only increase to €30m in the final 15 days of the summer transfer window.
It’s up to Arsenal whether they’re willing to pay £21m for the 24-year-old before then, and up to Garcia whether he’s willing to compete with Raya for both club and country.