How Barcelona plan to reorganise their goalkeeping department as new signing shines

Barcelona have struck gold with Joan Garcia, and just over six months have been enough for the new signing to prove his worth.

In just his first season at the club, the youngster is already making a case to be called the best goalkeeper in Spain, and is at the doorstep of a national team call-up.

Further, he has already won the Catalans multiple games single-handedly, with his best ever performance coming under pressure against his former club Espanyol.

Future is decided

Barcelona’s goalkeeping position is overcrowded. (Photo by JOSEP LAGO/AFP via Getty Images)

As relayed by SPORT in a recent update, Barcelona have now decided that Joan Garcia is their long-term goalkeeper and that there is no more scope for any debate or competition.

They do not intend to sign any more goalkeepers or talents in that position to compete with Garcia in the coming years, for there is already a surplus of players in that position. Their focus, instead, will shift to facilitating departures.

Marc-Andre Ter Stegen, Inaki Pena, Ander Astralaga and Aron Yaakobishvili are all contractually bound to Barcelona and will return from their loans in summer, creating an overbooking in the position.

Further, Wojciech Szczesny is in the squad as the first-choice backup goalkeeper and also has an optional year on his contract which can be activated.

The first big hope is that Ter Stegen leaves the club in the summer after a good showing at Girona and in the FIFA World Cup. Inaki Pena stands as the next best-placed candidate returning from a promising loan, but he too could leave if offers arrive.

The situations with Astralaga and Yaakobishvili remain to be monitored, for Barcelona may wish for one of them to stay as a backup goalkeeper. Their departures too, however, cannot be ruled out given how Garcia has established himself as the clear number one.