FC BARCELONA SIGNINGS 2025
OFFICIAL: Joan García signs for FC Barcelona until 2030
Published New:11/06/2025 - 06:25h
Updated New:11/06/2025 - 06:25h
Barça has closed the incorporation of Joan García for the next five seasons, until June 2030. The azulgrana team signed the Catalan goalkeeper paying the 25M of his clause
Joan García is the first reinforcement of FC Barcelona for the 2025/26 season. The Catalan goalkeeper signed with the azulgrana team for five seasons, until June 2030, after a couple of weeks of negotiations in which the culé board had no major obstacles to convince the Sallent native to join Hansi Flick's team.
As planned, the lawyer Ramón Valencia, representing the player and his agent, Niagara Sports, arrived at the azulgrana Ciutat Esportiva on Tuesday afternoon to close the transfer.
With everything agreed between the parties, all that remains is to review the documentation certifying payment of the 24-year-old goalkeeper's release clause. In that sense, the Blaugrana team prefers to wait until he is completely released from the club to announce the signing. However, president Joan Laporta has already signed the goalkeeper's contract.
Finally, Barça agreed to pay the 25 million euros net set by an Espanyol that ruled out any type of negotiation with the culés. Joan was the goalkeeper with the most saves in LaLiga 24/25 (146 in 38 matchdays), a key figure in the salvation of the 'periquito' team.
Joan García, second most expensive goalkeeper in Barça's history
In this way, Barcelona closes the first signing of the summer market and gets the goalkeeper with the best projection in Spanish football. García arrived at Espanyol's youth academy in 2016 and debuted with the first team in the 21/22 season. Since then, he has played 67 games (41 in the League) in which he has conceded 72 goals (1.07 per game) and kept his goal undefeated in 21 opportunities.
In LaLiga, the 24-year-old goalkeeper registers 8 games without conceding and 1.39 goals conceded per game in his 41 appearances. The 24/25 was his first full season in the First Division, since the 'periquito' team lost the category in 22/23.
For Barça, this becomes its second most expensive acquisition in history as far as goalkeepers are concerned. In 2019, the club paid 26 'kilos' to Valencia for Neto Murara, one of the many ruinous operations of the Bartomeu management.
The Brazilian only played 21 games with Barça in three seasons (he conceded 20 goals, with 7 clean sheets) and he left with a letter of freedom to the English Bournemouth in 2022 to free up salary mass. In 24/25, the 35-year-old goalkeeper was on loan at Arsenal.
Top 5 most expensive goalkeepers of Barça:
- Neto Murara: 2019/20 (Valencia, 26 M€)
- Joan García: 2025/26 (Espanyol, 25 M€)
- Jasper Cillessen: 2016/17 (Ajax, 13 M€)
- Ter Stegen: 2014/15 (Borussia Mönchengladbach, 12 M€)
- Claudio Bravo: 2014/15 (Real Sociedad, 12 M€)
With Joan García, the bet is totally different. The club's idea is to turn him into the '1' of the culé goal from next season, although Hansi Flick still has Marc-André ter Stegen and Wojciech Szczesny. Unless there is a surprise, the Pole will renew for one more year, while the German maintains his future in the 'air'.
What does Joan García's arrival mean for Ter Stegen's future?
And, understanding that the Catalan will be the first option, logic invites us to think about the departure of Ter Stegen, probably with a letter of freedom to facilitate his incorporation to another club. The captain receives around 7 million euros net per season and Barça prioritizes freeing up salary mass to avoid complications with the signing of other possible reinforcements this summer.
Therefore, the club is willing to recognize a full year of Marc-André's salary as compensation, but the German goalkeeper has no intention of leaving. First, because he feels comfortable in the Ciudad Condal and, in addition, he wants to prove that he is still in a position to maintain the position in which he has been undisputed in the last nine years.
Although a couple of serious injuries made him miss a good part of the last two seasons, Ter Stegen, at 33 years old, feels in full condition to continue being one of the best goalkeepers in the world.
However, Barcelona is betting on Joan García as a generational replacement, in the same way that they did in 2014 with the signing of the Mönchengladbach native and the departure of the historic Víctor Valdés.
Thus, the club closes a strategic signing that, as far as 'Fair Play' financial is concerned, will not represent problems for the future for Barça, as long as it returns to rule 1:1 before June 30. A step, this last one, about to be confirmed thanks to the exit operation and the approval of the auditor Crowe to the sale of the 475 VIP seats of the Spotify Camp Nou.
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