Espanyol goalkeeper Joan Garcia has a list of suitors as long as his arm this summer, with an exit from the club he is doing plenty to keep in La Liga more than likely. The 23-year-old was heavily pursued by Arsenal last summer, and the Gunners are likely to contend for his signature again -amongst others.
Los Pericos need to bring in at least €15m in sales this summer to balance their accounts, and that will be Garcia’s release clause if they are relegated. Should they stay up – currently they have a six-point gap to the drop zone – his release clause will stay at €30m, but he is undoubtedly considered to be the golden sale by Espanyol.
Arsenal have been heavily linked with Garcia, as have Bayer Leverkusen, Atletico Madrid and Manchester City. Barcelona were also interested in him, but have decided against a move for a goalkeeper this summer. One side that were reportedly looking at Garcia before any of the above were Real Madrid. The latest from Cadena Cope is that Real Madrid like Garcia a lot, and he is very highly regarded by Los Blancos.
While they are not looking for a goalkeeper, should the need to move for one arise, then they would be willing to get involved in the race for Garcia. Andriy Lunin is set to seek an exit this summer, and 32-year-old Thibaut Courtois has suffered from injuries of late, meaning Real Madrid want a back-up that is more than capable of filling in.
Garcia certainly would be that, but he may not want to go to a side where he will not have regular football – although the prize of potentially succeeding Courtois is tempting prospect. on the other hand, it does seem somewhat unlikely that with the highly rated Fran Gonzalez behind Lunin, that the recently frugal Florentino Perez would sanction a €30m outlay on a back-up goalkeeper.
