13 - Joan García

Unai is one of the best GK in the World, a bit inconsistent like most but overall he is vastly underrated one and he rarely let Spain down. Raya is also one of the best around.

Joan is doing great, but let's see how he will handle CL knockouts and consistency first. He deserves to be included as 3rde GK and more so as 4th if they take four GK if it is 26 man squad.
However, sometimes NT coaches prefer not to take the best in such situations because it can cause distractions through the media and friction about who should play. I don't agree with it, but it happens a lot.

LDF is a solid NT coach btw, despicable guy who only cares about results over his players health, but for NT he is competent

khaled_a_d said:

Unai is one of the best GK in the World, a bit inconsistent like most but overall he is vastly underrated one and he rarely let Spain down. Raya is also one of the best around.

Joan is doing great, but let's see how he will handle CL knockouts and consistency first. He deserves to be included as 3rde GK and more so as 4th if they take four GK if it is 26 man squad.
However, sometimes NT coaches prefer not to take the best in such situations because it can cause distractions through the media and friction about who should play. I don't agree with it, but it happens a lot.

LDF is a solid NT coach btw, despicable guy who only cares about results over his players health, but for NT he is competent

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This is all true and we have to wait how Joan does the rest of this season

But the question is will LDF start him even if he performs really well in the UCL. From his comments, it seems more like he chooses to stay loyal to Unai because he did well on Euros

Joan is gifted with more physical advantages than these keepers and on top of that he is also fantastic on ball. He is incredibly quick, his reflexes are unreal and honestly there are very few flaws to his game so far. Normally he should develop into a much better GK than Simon or Raya

MonteCuler said:

This is all true and we have to wait how Joan does the rest of this season

But the question is will LDF start him even if he performs really well in the UCL. From his comments, it seems more like he chooses to stay loyal to Unai because he did well on Euros

Joan is gifted with more physical advantages than these keepers and on top of that he is also fantastic on ball. He is incredibly quick, his reflexes are unreal and honestly there are very few flaws to his game so far. Normally he should develop into a much better GK than Simon or Raya

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I think he'll go down as best Barca GK in history and close to the level of Iker Casillas.

MonteCuler said:

This is all true and we have to wait how Joan does the rest of this season

But the question is will LDF start him even if he performs really well in the UCL. From his comments, it seems more like he chooses to stay loyal to Unai because he did well on Euros

Joan is gifted with more physical advantages than these keepers and on top of that he is also fantastic on ball. He is incredibly quick, his reflexes are unreal and honestly there are very few flaws to his game so far. Normally he should develop into a much better GK than Simon or Raya

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Unai should be undisputed number one in the World Cup barring a catastrophic performance.

Valdes did much better in 09/10 than Casillas and was rightfully benched for Iker. It is the nature of the NT football that is vastly different than club one. There is a reason this loyalty is universally agreed with coaches. Joan won't have time to build a strong connection to this squad and to fit in.

The question should arise after the World Cup, and if Joan don't get a serious look along Raya then there might be an argument.
So far Simon is a critical player for Spain in the 2020's and is just entering his prime, Joan is a pleasant surprise for us but there is no need to be mad on his behalf for such NT decisions.

A big part of getting number one in NT is circumstances. In 2008 Neuer was essentially 5th GK for Germany, and it looked he won't be more than 4th option in 2010 after Lehman's retirement. Timo Hildebrand turned irreversibly shit after Valencia move, Enke took his own life (rip), Coaches realised Wiese is mediocre, and just before 2010 Adler got injured and Neuer became no1 and rest is history. OTOH guys like Reina, MATS and VV waited their whole career for such opportunity.

If anything, I am glad than Joan gets proper rest during international break, I would hope rest of Barca squad to follow.

2026 WC will probably be the one last real dance for Unai. He has proven himself and is probably great leader. It makes sense Spain is sticking with him for now.

It would be great honor for Joan to be Spain's goalkeeper but at the same time we wouldn't gain anything from that, only risk him injuring himself.

Barcaman said:

All Barca gks get eventually thrown to the wolves. Even Valdes to extent. That guy made a right call to end it early.

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Most Barca GKs were not legendary stuff so pretty much expendable. Certainly the position we had it worse in, considering what legends we had in other positions over the years.
But on the other hand people go way overboard on GK performances anyway since it's easier for the usual chump to have his "opinion" over what's top class or not.

Going by the Internet reaction and the result one would think Garcia's performance vs Villareal was the stuff of legends. In fact it was a good performance, 1 maybe 2 being top class saves, the others being shot straight at him so any run of the mill GK should have saved. But since it was a Barca GK and a cleansheet vs a good LL team the praise goes overboard.
By comparison, Vlachodimos pulled off some insane saves and an overall just as good performance in the Bernabeu(albeit he conceded two because of superior finishing and pen), but nobody praises him.

So Barça GK will always be Jekil and Hyde in the minds of fans. On the other hand we never paid insane amounts on GKs, so the dumb fans are expecting legendary performances on the cheap.

PS: don't see why Unai Simon shoud be dropped for Spain over Garcia or Raya. Hasn't dropped some calamity and the other two are not Yashin and Neuer to warrant an instant upgrade.

I can't understand why people rate Unai. I think he should be number 3. He makes some terrible mistakes at times. He is a good keeper but not a great one. I rate Joan and Raya above him.

jormatar said:

2026 WC will probably be the one last real dance for Unai. He has proven himself and is probably great leader. It makes sense Spain is sticking with him for now.

It would be great honor for Joan to be Spain's goalkeeper but at the same time we wouldn't gain anything from that, only risk him injuring himself.

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Unai Simon is 28, that's barely a teenager in goalkeeper years.

Joan might be better than everyone else in the Spain team. But he has to show his level for a year at least to be ahead of Raya let alone Unai.

Those two are playing top flight football for a long time. And are established.

GK isn't a position most coaches change when they have a starter. And this is a National team. So we should forget about it.

Joan's only hope is the World Cup 2030. And if all goes well, maybe Euros 2028. But not before that.

I thought we don't want DLF calling our players to the NT?

TheStig said:

I thought we don't want DLF calling our players to the NT?

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He's a goalkeeper.
We dont care about them. They can play as many games as they want.

He will go down as best Barca goalkeeper EVER.

GloryHunter 007 said:

He will go down as best Barca goalkeeper EVER.

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The best Barca keeper ever is a perico. Stings a liitle.