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The original was posted on /r/soccer by /u/Vila-real on 2025-06-25 14:13:12+00:00.
In the city of Barcelona, there is a main street called Avinguda Diagonal, or “Diagonal Avenue”. One of the main traffic arteries of the city, the Diagonal honors its name and diagonally splits the city in two. It is nearly impossible to travel through the center without eventually touching it.
In Catalonian soccer, the Diagonal was, for decades, a very real border which players of Espanyol and Barcelona had to cross if they wanted to join the local rivals. So much so, that the expression still holds today. Cruzar la Diagonal (“Crossing the Diagonal”) is an expression commonly used when players switch sides.
Earlier this month, Espanyol goalkeeper Joan Garcia looked both sides, took a deep breath, and crossed the 92 meters (300 feet) of the widest street in Spain.
As he looked back, and after close to a decade at the club, he could see Espanyol’s statement immediate to his exit.
A single Tweet.
“Goalkeeper Joan Garcia has deposited his transfer clause of 26.34m and has ended his tenure as Espanyol player.”
End of message.
The official reaction from Espanyol to a player who joined at age 15, and is now fleeing to Barcelona was hardly unexpected. Even though over the past 120 years, 68 players have switched to and fro, this one is different. This one stings.
Joan is arguably the most promising goalkeeper in Spain, but one with a very real present. One to build a team around. At age 24, he has already carved his name into the psyche of the fans: he became a hero for the Pericos (Espanyol fans) when his performances, specially in the playoff final, helped the club achieve promotion back to La Liga in the 23/24 season, besting Cazorla’s Oviedo and bouncing back immediately after relegation.
He did not stop there though, with a breakthrough performance in Spain’s top division, with the broader soccer world now watching. Just twelve months later, he emerged as one of the best young goalkeepers in the continent. He played it all (3,420 minutes out of 3,420 possible), achieved a clean sheet in 21% of the domestic competition matches, and emerged as the shot stopper with the most saves in the season, with 140.
It could be argued (me included) that Total Saves is not an optimal stat to lean on; however, Joan excelled in Save Percentage as well: 75.5% of shots received, only behind Athletic’s Unai Simon at 79% (only counting goalkeepers who at least have played 75% of the season).
That save percentage shines even more if we layer it with Shots on Target and compare it to the Bilbao club: Unai Simon (1,890 minutes), backup Julen Agirrezabala (1,206) and third keeper Alex Padilla (321), who all featured in a long domestic and European season, received 113 Shots on Target, combined.
Joan Garcia saw 192 shots come his way this season (stats by Stathead).
Joan may be pushing for Unai ‘s spot in more ways than that one soon; the first starting Catalan goalkeeper since Victor Valdes has his eye in the National team. However, the immediate task is acclimating to the other side of the Diagonal, and everything that goes along with it.
For a player of his background and profile, the pressure will be coming from all angles. Think 192 shots, on target, all at once.
The 24-year-old will be joining the current champions, with two teammates in very different situations as of this moment: Wojciech Szczęsny, relaxed as they come after a literal retirement turned Michael Jordan-esque return (three titles included) and Marc-André Ter Stegen, determined to stay and shrugging club, fans, and even his countryman and Ballon d’Or defender Lothar Matthaus, who admitted the 33-year-old will “Probably leave Barcelona”, and added that Manchester City could be a good destination.
ter Stegen is not planning on leaving; but nevertheless, Joan Garcia is here.
And so the pressure mounts. The club profile. The expectations. The investment made, as the second most expensive goalkeeper in Barcelona’s history, and third most expensive Spanish goalkeeper in world football, ever. The unforgiving nature of the goalkeeper’s role. The return to the Camp Nou this summer, with an eventual attendance of 105,000 fans, a European record. Your Instagram account, shooting up from 50,000 followers to over one million in a matter of weeks.
ter Stegen staring at you, while Szczęsny takes a puff off his cigarrete and looks into the distance.
The World Cup in 12 months.
And on top of it all, the club you joined at age 15, waving from right across the street, and in the same competition.
Espanyol is no stranger to having to share things with the club that absorbs it all in Catalonia; it is a constant fight. From the resources, to the visiting tourist-soccer fans’ attention, to the ability to lure local players into its youth system. The five minutes of sports news at the end of the Telediario (daily news on TV) are usually a 90/10 split.
Joan has been part of that struggle, and it will burn to see him wearing the blaugrana shirt. To quote Espanyol ex-president Joan Collet on his recent thoughts on the matter, “He grew up here. He knows our beginnings, how we feel. Our daily fight in Catalonia against a monster who eats everything in its path” .
“He has chosen the monster.”
Joan Garcia, like Ricardo Zamora in 1919 or Urriti in 1981, joins a list of goalkeepers who have made this switch. The business has gone well for the Cules (Barcelona fans) historically; Urruti made a save at Valladolid’s Nuevo Zorrilla stadium, which handed the club its first La Liga trophy in 11 years. Zamora gives name to La Liga’s trophy for goalkeeper with the least goals conceded (the Trofeo Zamora), which should give you a hint of how Ricardo did as a professional.
The Barcelona-born goalkeeper debuted for Espanyol at age 15, in 1916; three years later, he retired as his father wanted him to study medicine. However, he continued playing the occasional pickup game with the locals, including several amateur clubs, and one of them made him an offer to play again. Just like that, at age 18, Zamora would sign for Barcelona, and Espanyol fans were absolutely livid. That treason that is still talked about 100 years later.
Zamora returned to Espanyol three seasons after that; Espanyol splashed a record sum of 150 Euros for the transfer, and promised the goalkeeper annual wages of close to 400 Euros. Zamora wrote a letter in the local newspaper, apologized and promised to “Fight, with more love than ever, to erase the young kid mistake I made” , and even liften a Spanish Cup a few years later.
At age 29, he joined Real Madrid after a 600 Euro transfer sum, and won two leagues and two cups.
Zamora, however, did not have a social media presence as an outlet for disgruntled fans. He also did not publicly kiss the Espanyol shield in the last match of the season, in his own stadium, to the applause of thousands of his relieved fans.
Not that we know of, anyway. Different times.
Ex-president Collet asked fans to not display overly aggressive behavior towards the player, but he otherwise did not hold back: “I am very disappointed. Disappointed in the way this happened, in who did this, and where he is leaving.”
“He deceived his teammates, the manager, and he made all of us believe he had an eternal love for the club. We feel betrayed.”
Joan Garcia signed with Barcelona for six seasons, and especially at the beginning of his tenure, will have to lean on the few friends he has at his new club. Currently, 11 Catalan players feature in the first team, with a plethora of youngsters pushing their way through, as it is tradition at the club, like winger Jan Virgili or midfielder Quim Junyent, both heavily featuring in the Under-19 Euro being currently held in Romania.
Garcia also won the Olympic gold for Spain in Paris 2024, lifting the trophy alongside Barcelona players Eric Garcia, Fermin Lopez and Pau Cubarsi, whom he now counts as teammates.
He does seem ready for the challenge. Joan identifies himself as “A rather cold person, but I think that it helps me”. He does seem to display a certain maturity only reserved to goalkeepers around the 30-year mark, and otherwise world talent on goal.
The talent is there, that is a given. He knows how to play with his feet, continuously seems mentally plugged into the match, and has the mesmerizing ability to make it look as though a string exists between the ball and his glove the moment the shot begins, propelling his body, almost like a ragdoll, towards an inexplicable save.
He’s good on one on ones, good in the air at…
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