Arsenal’s desire to sign goalkeeper Joan García from Espanyol this summer was evident to everyone, and a look at the stats will tell you why.
AS provide that today and explain how García is currently ‘Europe’s glove’ as he leads the goalkeeper charts.
For those that don’t know, Arsenal chased García throughout much of the summer, eyeing him up as a back up to David Raya.
A deal looked likely to be done but was eventually abandoned, with Arsenal using their money to sign Riccardo Calafiori and Mikel Merino and instead bringing in Neto from Bournemouth to back up Raya.
García has long since insisted he’s happy that he ended up remaining at Espanyol and the 23-year-old has been showing his value on the pitch.
According to AS, no goalkeeper in the entirety of Europe has made more saves than García at this moment in time, He’s got 40 so far, putting him nine ahead of the nearest competition.
They explain that García has been racking up the saves since matchday one, with ten against Real Betis last week and ten the week before against Real Madrid at the Bernabéu significantly adding to this impressive tally.
Broken down, his 40 saves are from 24 shots from inside the area and 16 outside, with a success rate of 76.92%. He’s conceded 12 goals in total, but the tally would be ‘many more’ if it weren’t for his presence. Nobody is coming close to him at this moment in time in the five major European league.
Interestingly, David Raya is 11th on the list with 24 to his name, although he has a considerably better defence in front of him at Arsenal.
Either way, the number is a show of the talent the Gunners clearly saw in García and perhaps something everyone else will pick up on before too long.
