Arsenal reignite interest in €30m La Liga talent | OneFootball

Arsenal have regularly looked to the La Liga market in recent years, and it looks like their plans will be no different in 2025. Martin Zubimendi, who is also wanted by Real Madrid, and Nico Williams are believed to be on their shortlist, and another Spanish talent that continues to be sought is Joan Garcia.

Last summer, Arsenal were very interested in signing Garcia, but because it took them so long to sell Aaron Ramsdale to Southampton, they ended up missing the boat as Espanyol refused to negotiate in the final days of the transfer window. As such, they had to settle for loaning ex-Barcelona goalkeeper Neto.

Since then, Garcia has established himself as an excellent performer in La Liga. Espanyol have had a tough season up until now, but it would have been much worse had it not been for their 23-year-old goalkeeper, who has made a league-high 82 saves in 22 appearances.

Because Espanyol refused to negotiate when Arsenal eventually made their move for Garcia last summer, it meant that the asking price was his €30m release clause. However, this figure will drop down to €25m for the first few weeks of the upcoming transfer window at the end of the season.

As per CaughtOffside, Arsenal are still interested in Garcia, whom they want to add to their goalkeeping ranks alongside David Raya. If he does make the move to the Emirates Stadium in the summer, it is likely that he would be arriving as a backup.

Taking this into account, Garcia could be put off by a move to Arsenal, unless he is guaranteed by head coach Mikel Arteta that he can challenge Raya to become the number one goalkeeper. Espanyol will hope that they can retain his services, although that will be extremely difficult to do if they are relegation from La Liga at the end of this season.