Good day, everyone, and welcome to my blog. FC Barcelona confirmed the signing of Joan Garcia, which is not news anymore, as the Catalan goalkeeper will be among the squad going on the preseason tour in Asia. Since the Club World Cup was hosted in America, the club has decided to take its tour back to Asia after so many years. The goalkeeper situation in Barcelona is still ongoing internally within the club as Joan Garcia's signing is not sitting well with Marc Andre Ter Stegen, the club's number one goalkeeper for many years now.
According to various German media, Ter Stegen is not happy with the club, as he expressed in a meeting with Deco(FC Barcelona sporting director), but it was made clear to the German goalkeeper that there will be changes at the club and no one is above the club. The German goalkeeper is not happy with the way the situation is at the club, but he is not pushing to leave as he still wants to play for Barcelona. There has also been a meeting between Ter Stegen and Hansi Flick in the past two days as the German coach has made it clear to Ter Stegen that Joan Garcia is going to be the number one goalkeeper of the team starting from next season.
This was a crucial part of the negotiation when Barcelona were in talks with Joan Garcia and his agent. Joan Garcia wanted assurance that he would get more playing time which Hansi Flick and Deco assured the Catalan player it was not going to be an issue. Ter Stegen obviously did not like the sound of him not being the number one goalkeeper on the team, but he is still willing to stay and fight for a place on the team. This situation may create a hostile environment for Joan Garcia because the guy he was brought to replace is not happy and their relationship is already off to a rocky start.
Barcelona now has four goalkeepers in the team as it has been confirmed that Wojciech Szczesny has extended one more year with the club. The Polish goalkeeper will be in the team next season as the club was happy with his performance last season and offered him a one-year extension. Szczesny is a great goalkeeper and it will be nice to still have him at the club next season, but playing time will be limited, that is for sure with him having to compete with Ter Stegen and Joan Garcia next season. The other goalkeeper nobody is talking about is Inaki Pena who is the fourth goalkeeper of the team.
There is no doubt Inaki Pena will not be having any game time with the competition stacked in front of him and the best option would be for him to leave the club this summer, but not on a permanent deal as a loan deal should be preferable because Wojciech Szczesny will be playing his last season of his career which will open up space in that section and who knows Ter Stegen could leave next summer. The best option is for the club to accept a loan offer for Inaki Pena this summer.
It's going to be interesting to see how this goalkeeper situation will be handled by Hansi Flick next season and I am looking forward to seeing Joan Garcia play for the club soon. So, guys, that will be all for now. Thanks for stopping by and have a good day.