Joan Garcia on course for special first-season feat at Barcelona | OneFootball

One of the most notable additions FC Barcelona made to their team in the last summer transfer window was that of the goalkeeper Joan Garcia, who was signed from Espanyol and who is expected to be the long-term guardian of the Blaugrana goal going forward.

With the start that he has had at the Catalan club, there is every reason to believe that his tenure between the sticks would be a very successful one. He has not only helped his team on their way to defend the La Liga title and to win the Super Cup, but he is also set to enjoy individual glory as well.

The 25-year-old goalkeeper is currently leading the race for the Zamora Trophy, awarded to La Liga’s least beaten goalkeeper this season. The former Espanyol shot stopper has conceded only 20 goals in 28 league games so far, giving him a coefficient of 0.71.

At the moment, he remains ahead of Thibaut Courtois, who has conceded 24 goals in 28 matches for Real Madrid and has a coefficient of 0.86. Interestingly, Courtois is expected to return for the upcoming Clasico at Camp Nou, where Barcelona can officially secure their 29th La Liga title with either a win or a draw.

If Joan Garcia goes on to win the Zamora Trophy, he would make history at Barcelona. According to Mundo Deportivo, only two other Barça goalkeepers have managed to win the award in their debut season at the club, with Andoni Zubizarreta doing so in the 1986/1987 season after arriving from Athletic Club, while Claudio Bravo repeated the feat in the 2014/2015 campaign following his move from Real Sociedad.

Some of the biggest names in La Liga history, including Víctor Valdes, Iker Casillas, Jan Oblak, and Marc-Andre ter Stegen, were unable to achieve such a feat in their first seasons at their respective clubs.

In fact, if Joan Garcia finishes the season as La Liga’s least beaten goalkeeper, he would become only the third goalkeeper in the 21st century to debut at a club and immediately win the Zamora Trophy, following Roberto Abbondanzieri at Getafe and Claudio Bravo at Barcelona.

Hopefully, this would only be the first Zamora Trophy of Joan Garcia’s Barcelona career, and he can go on to add several more individual honours to his name in the years to come.