The one player that Arsenal dodged a bullet by not signing this summer

Arsenal proved to be quite the sharpshooters in their summer transfer dealings but, in one instance, it seems they dodged a bullet themselves: namely by their decision not to buy former Espanyol star Joan Garcia.

The club had monitored Garcia for some time, with rumours of a north London switch first emerging in July 2024. Aaron Ramsdale stood on the first-team periphery back then and was eyeing a move to Southampton, while Edu had already done much of the groundwork and was primed to strike for the La Liga goalkeeper if Ramsdale left.

Yet Garcia never came and he instead signed for Barcelona last June – a disappointment for some but perhaps Mikel Arteta should really be counting his lucky stars.

Not because he missed out on the player; the 24-year-old is an exceptional talent whose one-on-one prowess, lightning-quick reactions and fine ball-playing ability made him a top target for teams right across Europe.

Arsenal dodged a bullet by not signing goalkeeper Joan Garcia from Espanyol this summer

Remember, too, his paltry £21.3m release clause and it is little wonder that Arsenal were licking their lips.  

But this move would have brought about as much tension as excitement and few sides understand its pitfalls like we do.

Had a deal been struck, the boss would have surely found himself in a repeat of the Ramsdale/David Raya saga: constant speculation on who is the better goalkeeper, a media circus whenever the team-sheet dropped and a permanent bench spot for the ‘loser’ before getting shipped out next season in a cut-price deal.  

It is well established that ‘competition’ does not work between the sticks and so to pursue this move would have created another needless headache for the club. At a time when the squad is settled and big trophies are a must, any Garcia/Raya sideshow might well have caused a fatal distraction to the Gunners' title/European ambitions.

Instead, we got Kepa Arrizabalaga and, thus, claimed the best of both worlds: he is good goalkeeper who is firmly considered as a back-up but can deputise ably for Raya. His ridiculous price of £5m also made much more sense than splurging four times that on Garcia to warm the bench – or oust Raya – and had next to no impact on our finances for other deals.

Now Raya can continue as top dog and perform with a clear head, free from the psychological toil of forever second-guessing his status in the eyes of Arteta.

Our goalkeeping union is not broken, so there would be no reason to ‘fix’ it with Garcia.

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