Club director confirms rejecting €20m bid from Arsenal for star player

Arsenal failed with a €20m bid to sign goalkeeper Joan Garcia late in the summer transfer window, Espanyol sporting director Fran Garagarza has confirmed.

The Gunners were willing to sell backup Aaron Ramsdale, who had lost his spot to David Raya, if they could secure a replacement before the deadline. Ramsdale was eventually sold to Southampton, while Bournemouth's Neto joined the north Londoners on loan.

But prior to their interest in Neto, Arsenal were heavily linked with Olympic gold-medallist Garcia, who enjoyed a rapid rise into the Espanyol starting lineup last season after an injury to first-choice goalkeeper Fernando Pacheco.

Garcia's contract contains a €30m release clause, but Arsenal were reluctant to meet that amount and were reported to have only offered €20m.

Speaking to AS, Garagarza revealed why this bid was rejected, but also admitted that Garcia could be sold in the near future.

"For this exercise we have understood that Joan is an asset and that he is necessary to achieve the objective because he acts in a very specific position," he began. "We could not weaken there, we couldn't. The interest in him is not going to stop. The time to sell Joan may be at another time."

Speaking on Garcia's tremendous ability, Garagarza added: "With Joan it is obvious that his talent lies there, even when he had to renew his contract because he was not playing, but we believed in him.

"His day-to-day life was of a very high level. Obviously, he took advantage of Pacheco's injury and has taken the position. It is true that there is interest in him, but for us he is an asset."