Barcelona joined by Real Madrid in pursuit of €25 million-rated La Liga breakout star | OneFootball

Joan Garcia has been one of the biggest reasons why RCD Espanyol have been able to put some gap between themselves and clubs battling relegation in La Liga.

The 23-year-old Spanish shot-stopper has been one of the breakout stars of this La Liga season, making a huge impression with his performances.

Naturally, a number of top clubs have been alerted by the young goalkeeper’s potential, with Barcelona director Deco also a huge admirer of Garcia.

Real Madrid enter race for Joan Garcia

Barcelona have been monitoring Garcia as a future target for the goalkeeping department, but now face competition from several other clubs, including arch-rivals Real Madrid, reports MARCA.

Indeed, Los Blancos have now entered the race for the 23-year-old starlet, who was part of the Spain squad that won the gold medal at the Paris Olympics last year.

Joan Garcia set to spark a summer transfer war? (Photo by Judit Cartiel/Getty Images)

Real Madrid were not looking to make any changes to their goalkeeping department but with Andriy Lunin fielding many offers, they see Garcia as a player to replace him and compete with Thibaut Courtois for the No. 1 spot.

Apart from Real Madrid, Aston Villa are also keen on Garcia as their first-choice custodian, Emiliano Martinez, attracts Saudi Arabia’s interest. Arsenal are also in the hunt, having failed in an attempt to sign him last summer.

What’s Barcelona’s goalkeeping situation?

As far as Barcelona are concerned, any move for Garcia this summer was always going to be unlikely as their goalkeeping department for the next season appears to be sorted already.

Marc-Andre ter Stegen is back from injury after seven months out and Wojciech Szczesny is set to sign a new contract to continue at the Catalan club for one more season.

As such, attracting Garcia to the club would have been a difficult challenge unless the Blaugrana struck a preemptive deal to bring him on board in 2026.

Such a scenario though appears extremely unlikely at the moment. After all, Garcia has a €25 million release clause in his contract, which could rise by €5 million if he breaks into the Spain senior team.

At a time when finances are fragile, Barcelona will likely prioritise positions where there is more urgency for reinforcements.