FC Barcelona makes official the loan of the 21-year-old goalkeeper, Ander Astralaga, to Granada CF. The Basque player will play for one season with the 'rojiblancos' who are in the second division of Spanish football.
Through a statement, the Blaugrana team shared what appears to be a simple loan of the goalkeeper who arrived at the club's youth categories in 2018, coming from Athletic Club de Bilbao.
In the 2022/23 season he played 3 matches with Barça Atlètic, while in 23/24 he played 16 and in 24/25 he played 18, completing a total of 38 matches with the Catalan team's reserve team. Before this, he had a stage in Cadete A and then reached the youth stage.
It should be noted that, after the arrival of Joan Garcíaafter the arrival of Joan García, the possible renewal of Wojciech Szczęsny and the alleged refusal of Marc-André ter Stegen to leave the Blaugrana team, it would be very difficult for him to have minutes with the first team.
Another important aspect when making the decision to change scenery would have been the relegation to Segunda RFEF of Barça Atlètic, so in some way the departure of Astralaga was foreseen.
No debut in the first team
Despite receiving the call on several occasions to train with the first team, led by Hansi Flick, he never made his official debut with it.
Although the player was loaned until June of next year, on this date the contract he has with Barça expires, which can be extended for two years.
Another obstacle that Astralaga would have in the way to make a place for himself in the first team would be the presence of Diego Kochen, who is expected to be the third goalkeeper if Ter Stegen ends up agreeing to leave. Also, for now Barça would have four top-level goalkeepers if Iñaki Peña is taken into account, who would be working to find another club and take a leap in his career.
Tour of the United States, golden opportunity
Ander Astralaga was part of those called up by Flick for the pre-season tour that Barça made through the United States last summer. On that occasion, the goalkeeper got to play minutes against Pep Guardiola's Manchester City.
In that match (which ended 2-2) he entered replacing Iñaki Peña with 30 minutes left to finish the match and gained notoriety by being the protagonist in the penalty shootout, where he saved two shots, one from Kalvin Phillips and another from Jacob Wright, meaning the victory of the Blaugrana by 4-1 from 11 meters. These are unofficial matches.
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