Arsenal have been given fresh hope of signing Espanyol goalkeeper Joan Garcia in the summer. The Gunners have expressed interest in signing Garcia, 23, over the past two transfer windows and even reportedly had a bid rejected for the Spaniard in January.
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Arsenal are believed to have offered Espanyol €20m during the January transfer window but the La Liga club were asking for €30m. Garcia, who has played in all but two of Espanyol’s 24 league games this season, will be available to sign for €25m this summer due to a release clause in his contract.
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Mikel Arteta is keen to bring Garcia to the Emirates Stadium to provide cover and competition for Arsenal No. 1 David Raya. Brazilian veteran Neto has been the back-up choice this season but is due to return to Bournemouth in the summer and struggled in his sole appearance for Arsenal.
Garcia has previously confirmed he believes a summer move would be in the interest of all parties and has now said if he leaves Espanyol he will do it in ‘the best way’. ‘At the moment I’m not thinking about that [future], but you never know. If it happens, let it happen in the best way,’ he told Estadio Deportivo.
‘If in the end it turns out that I have to leave, how can I not say goodbye well? Espanyol are the club that has given me everything. If I go through the back door, it wouldn’t go well.’. Garcia appeared to be trying to put pressure on Espanyol to sell towards the end of the January transfer window by insisting it would be ‘good for everyone’ if he left.
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video. Up Next. He told Mundo Deportivo: ‘I am a very cold person in every sense and I think that this attitude helps me. I am very calm at Espanyol, with an opportunity that I have been waiting for a long time.
‘It will be for the good of everyone [if I leave]. Mine and the club, which is the one that has made me grow. It can’t be any other way.’. Earlier this week, Espanyol chief Fran Garagarza gave Arsenal the green light to sign Garcia in the summer transfer window.
‘I have come here to work to give the club economic viability,’ Garagarza said in an interview with Pericos Marca. ‘That involves keeping us, a capital increase and a good sale. And then getting it right in what you are going to be able to bring. And then start to grow with very firm but very sure steps.
‘In the summer, with the call from Arsenal in the last week, we were forced to reject it. ‘But if a club comes to you on June 14 and offers you money that is not the clause but is close between fixed and variables, Espanyol is not going to say no. They cannot say no.
‘Another thing is how we’re going to invest. A good sale does not imply that it should be because of his termination clause. If a club comes with eight million for Joan Garcia, that would be a bad sale.’. Arsenal failed to make any signings during the January transfer window despite the Gunners challenging for the Premier League and Champions League under Arteta.
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