"I highly doubt Joan Garcia will sign for Barcelona"

Espanyol coach Manolo Gonzalez considers goalkeeper Joan Garcia out of the team for the 2025-26 season, but doubts ‘quite a lot’ that he will end up playing for Barcelona.

"I knew him from the youth team and the reserve team, and he has always seemed to me to be a top goalkeeper. I think he will be a top goalkeeper at world level. For the money he's worth, I wouldn't take long to sign him if I could", commented the Galician coach on “Ao Contraataque” on “Radio Galega”.

Manolo Gonzalez, however, does not know where the goalkeeper will play next season: "Maybe he's already sold, but the club haven't said anything to me. Personally, I doubt very much that he will sign for Barcelona. I'm not saying I'd cut off a hand, but almost.

The Perico coach praised the work that Claudio Giraldez has done at Celta, but would not give him the La Liga revelation coach award because that award, in his opinion, is deserved by Carlos Corberan.

"To take a broken team like he took it in the middle of the season, because I always say that to take it in the middle of the season is much more difficult than at the beginning, and to do what he did has a lot of merit. What he did is very difficult, it has tremendous merit because of the pressure in Valencia and because his team even ended up playing very well," he said.

Manolo Gonzalez confessed that he ‘never’ liked Barcelona. "I could have gone in the youth teams and I didn't", and described his current coach, the German Hansi Flick, as "a gentleman": "He's a great coach, with a lot of common sense".