After a long run-up to the moment for close to a month, Barcelona delivered the final blow to Espanyol by triggering the release clause of Joan Garcia, their arch-rivals’ star player of last season.
The player’s agents deposited the sum of €25 million with inflation adjustment to the league offices, thus officially terminating his contract with Espanyol and leaving him free to join the club of his choice immediately.
However, both clubs have not made any announcement of the deal yet, with the confirmation expected to arrive next week.
The unofficial announcement
As relayed by SPORT in a recent update, however, there has been an unofficial confirmation of Garcia’s move to Barcelona not from either of the clubs involved in the deal or the player himself.
Rinat Europa, the company whose gloves the goalkeeper dons, put out a social media post congratulating him for the move. While they did not explicitly name the club, they called it ‘one of the best in the world’.
“Joan Garcia congratulations friend!! What a pride to have spent this journey with you until you reached one of the best teams in the world,” they wrote.
The player already has an agreement in place with Barcelona for six seasons and will thus sign as the Blaugrana’s first-choice goalkeeper under Hansi Flick.
He was, after all, the best goalkeeper in La Liga last season and will be a massive upgrade for Barcelona who have suffered in the position in recent years.
What remains to be seen now is the fate of the three remaining goalkeepers at the club. While Inaki Pena looks close to an exit, Marc-Andre Ter Stegen may well choose to do the same after losing his spot.
Wojciech Szczesny, meanwhile, is rumoured to be signing in a renewal and appears set to continue as the backup to Garcia.
