Barcelona's first contract this summer was a deal that fueled the fire in Catalan city, when goalkeeper Joan Garcia joined from opponent Espanyol. However, this deal is also likely to push the number 1 goalkeeper and captain Marc-Andre ter Stegen away from Blaugrana.
Garcia has attracted the attention of the Premier League (mainly Arsenal) over the past year and Espanyol fans will certainly want to see him move to England.
They do not want to see him become the first Espanyol player to move directly to Barca since Igor Korneev in 1994, 7 years before Garcia was born.
However, the appeal of joining the reigning La Liga champions, led by a group of young stars including Lamine Yamal and Pedri, has proven too strong.
Sources told ESPN that Barca acted quickly to sign the player because his €25 million release clause was an incredible opportunity.
Fearing backlash, Garcia deleted comments on his social media platforms when he announced he would leave the club. However, the consequences of this transfer could be even greater inside Barca than outside.
There was a push for Ter Stegen to leave, although the German player is still steadfast in his desire to stay. However, the summer is still long, and signing Garcia will lead to consequences in the goalkeeper position. Even if that means Wojciech Szczesny and Inaki Pena have to leave instead of Ter Stegen.
Why does Barcelona need a new goalkeeper?
For the second time in three years, the Blaugrana won the La Liga championship at home to their home team Espanyol. However, the performance of the home team goalkeeper attracted Szczesny's attention.
"I want to praise Garcia. I think he is the best goalkeeper in La Liga this season and he has a bright future ahead" - the Polish goalkeeper said about Garcia.
Many people also agreed with Szczesny's comment. According to most statistics, Garcia is the best goalkeeper in Spain and the key to Espanyol's successful relegation.
There is a long list of Garcia's unusual performances. That was in the 1-0 win over Real Madrid, in a key goalless draw with Leganes and against Mallorca, when he saved two penalties, despite the final shot being taken back and sending Espanyol to defeat.
No goalkeeper in La Liga last season had more saves than Garcia (145).And only two goalkeepers (Unai Simon of Athletic Bilbao and Jan Oblak of Atletico Madrid) have a higher success rate than Garcia's 73.6%.
Meanwhile, Szczesny's save percentage is 63.6% for 15 appearances, Pena is 65.5% for 16 and Ter Stegen is just 58.3% for 8 appearances.
Garcia's saves helped him end the season with 8.4 GPrv (a goal blocked), another tournament record. Szczesny's GPrv is 0.23, Pena is -1.00 and Ter Stegen is -2.56.
In nine seasons as Barca's No. 1 goalkeeper in La Liga, Ter Stegen has only surpassed Garcia's 8.4 mark once, when he owned 9.15 GPrv in the 2022-23 season. That year, the Blaugrana won La Liga and he also equalled the record for clean sheets (26) in a season.
Garcia's performance in goal for Espanyol made his teammate Sergi Gomez, a former Barca player, call him "the best goalkeeper in the world".
"Garcia have qualities that I have never seen in top goalkeepers before. I have never seen anything like that: the reflection, the courage, the quality with the ball in his feet, the leadership, the safety he brings. During training, he saved all 200 shots" - Gomez said.
