Earlier this summer, Barcelona completed the signing of goalkeeper Joan Garcia of City Neighbors Espanyol. The 24-year-old, who wrote a six-year contract with his new club, is expected to be the starting goalkeeper this season for Hansi Flick, to replace Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Wojciech Szczesny in the pecking order.
Understandably there was a lot of reaction from the Espanyol side to Garcia that joined their bitter rivals. Fans were far from satisfied, but defender Omar El Hilali has chosen a more pragmatic approach in his response to the issue. Speaking with MD, he gave his thoughts about the movement of his former teammate through the city.
“It is going to sound very typically, but everyone is free to choose what is best for them. I did not expect that he would go there. Usually because other teams were in for him, Barça only took a step for the last three days. It became very quickly official.
Originally, Barcelona was not going to sign a new keeper, with the idea that Ter Stegen and Szczesny are the first team options. But understandably, the club believed that Garcia was a market chance, which is easy to see in view of his performances for Espanyol last season.
Garcia has performed well for Barcelona during the preseason, but as things stand, he will not be able to give up for the Catalans during the upcoming 2025-26 campaign. He is one of the six players who hopes to register the club before the end of the summer, and at this stage he is priority number one that is done on time for the match against Mallorca in 10 days.