FC Barcelona Officially Confirms New First Team Signing

FC Barcelona confirmed the signing of a new player for Hansi Flick’s first team squad in 2025/2026 through an official statement sent to members of the press on Wednesday afternoon in Catalonia.

“FC Barcelona has activated the termination clause of player Joan Garcia. The cost of the clause was 25 million euros plus CPI,” the correspondence began.

“​​​​​​This Friday, the player will sign a contract with Barça for the next six seasons, until June 30, 2031, in a private event at the FC Barcelona offices,” the club added.

The statement makes no mention of Garcia’s former club and Barça’s crosstown rival Espanyol, who the breakout goalkeeper helped beat the La Liga drop in 2024/2025 as Flick’s men won the Spanish top flight at the Pericos’ RCDE Stadium.

Garcia’s price was set because of a release clause in his Espanyol terms which Barca activated last week.

The quest for a new goalkeeper came amid Barça winning a domestic treble yet leaking seven goals to Inter Milan across a two-legged Champions League semifinal defeat last month.

Stand-in goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny was the ‘keeper for the rest of the season after Marc-Andre ter Stegen succumbed to what was essentially a campaign-ending injury back in September.

But while the veteran Pole lured out of retirement is expected to be offered an extension of his one-year contract which expires on June 30, Barça will reportedly try and force captain Ter Stegen out of the club amid the German’s claims of ignorance on the matter.

With a contract until mid-2028, German international Ter Stegen is under no obligation to leave his club since 2014, but has already reportedly attracted interest from Saudi Arabia and Turkish giants Galatasaray.

FC Barcelona can now move on to other targets

Now that Garcia has been confirmed and announced, FC Barcelona can move on to other transfer targets it has for the summer window. Chief among them is Nico Williams, who has a $66.8 million (€58 million) release clause at Athletic Club, but other options for the left wing include Liverpool’s Luis Diaz and Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford while Ansu Fati is likely to be moved on.