“You go from hero to unloved” - Former Espanyol and Barcelona forward advises Joan Garcia after goalkeeper crosses rivalry divide with transfer

Former Espanyol striker Jonathan Soriano shared his thoughts following goalkeeper Joan Garcia moving cross-town from Espanyol to their arch-rivals Barcelona.

As reported by the Blaugrana on their website, the 24-year-old has signed a six-year deal with the reigning domestic treble winners. Despite Espanyol finishing a lowly 14th in La Liga in the recently concluded season, Garcia made a league-leading 146 saves and saved more goals than any other La Liga custodian. He said after arriving at Barca:

“I’m very happy, culers. I’m really looking forward to sharing great moments with you.”

Soriano said about Garcia's cross-town move to the Camp Nou (as per SPORT via Barca Universal):

“A footballer is not an amateur. He may have feelings for a club, more or less, but in the end, he is a worker. And many times, feelings have to be put aside. "You have to try not to take any false steps because you can find yourself in uncomfortable situations. My advice is to be patient. As an acquaintance says: You have to surf the wave. You go from hero to unloved by a part of the fans. "

He added:

“You have to be aware of that, accept it, and I would even say that you shouldn’t look too much at social networks, or the internet. Let time pass and everything goes back to normal.” “Next year, you have a bad season, and maybe they are no longer interested in you. You have to respect that the player wants to make his way. He has not had outbursts, and he has given everything he had for Espanyol.”

Garcia kept 24 clean sheets in 67 games across competitions for Espanyol since his first-team debut in the 2021-22 season.

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Barcelona season recap

Barcelona boss Hansi Flick

Barcelona, as mentioned above, are coming off a superb season, clinching the domestic treble - La Liga, Copa del Rey and Supercopa Espana - in Hansi Flick's first season in charge.

The Blaugrana bested arch-rivals Real Madrid in all four El Clasicos, completing a league double as well as victories in the Copa del Rey and Supercopa Espana finals.

In the UEFA Champions League, though, they were knocked out 7-6 on aggregate by Inter Milan in the semi-finals following a 4-3 second-leg home defeat after extra time. The Nerazzurri would go on to lose 5-0 to Paris Saint-Germain in the final.

Edited by Bhargav