The 23-year-old then played out the remainder of the season with a further seven clean sheets to his name from 13 games, helping his side finish fourth. As a result of their final league standing, Espanyol achieved promotion through the play-offs following a 2-1 aggregate win over Real Oviedo.
What Garcia has said about future
Given his impressive performances on the way to helping Espanyol seal promotion, transfer interest was inevitable with Real Madrid and Liverpool already being linked to the goalkeeper.
However, judging by his comments, he is focused on the upcoming campaign with Espanyol. “I have always felt the love of the fans,” Garcia said recently. “Very happy that people are with me.
“And for that part (transfers), don’t worry, I’m very good here and above all I would ask you to be calm and encourage us.” Any potential deal would also be complicated by the fact Garcia is in Spain's 2024 Olympics squad with the games not finishing until August 11.
Following his first appearance of the 2023/24 season, Garcia maintained an 82.5 per cent save percentage, as per FB ref. Standing at 6ft3ins, he also managed to claim an impressive 2.14 crosses per 90 minutes with a 16.1 per cent cross prevention rate compared to David Raya’s 13 per cent.
As he only played half of a season, with 21 appearances in total, Garcia conceded just eight goals while Raya let in 31 from a total of 41 games in all competitions. In terms of clean sheets, with Raya winning the golden glove, he kept 16 Premier League clean sheets and four in the Champions League.
Meanwhile in Spain, Garcia ensured 12 of Espanyol's opponents, from his 21 games played, did not score.
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