Arsenal almost signed Spanish winger on deadline day

Pablo Garcia completed an emotional deadline-day exit from Real Betis this week, leaving the club in tears after a 15-year spell and joining fellow La Liga side Racing Santander.

There had been suggestions that Garcia was somewhat pushed out of the door to give Betis the financial flexibility to re-sign former Betis and Arsenal midfielder Dani Ceballos, but the club deny this. They say Garcia wanted to leave for sporting reasons.

Regardless of the motivation for Garcia’s exit, Racing Santander sporting director Chema Aragon claims the winger almost joined Arsenal before his deadline-day transfer to their club was confirmed.

“It seemed like it was done with Arsenal, and then we came in too on loan,” Aragon said. “Yesterday things changed, and what seemed to be a loan turned into a shared ownership deal.”

If Arsenal really were on the verge of signing Garcia, they managed to keep it all very quiet. There were no concrete reports of the Gunners making a move until Aragon’s comments emerged.

But it’s worth mentioning that Arsenal had been linked with the player last year. Sam Cohen reported for GiveMeSport that Arsenal had been watching the youngster last autumn and building a detailed report on him and a couple of others.

So maybe Arsenal really were interested, and the move fell apart when Betis decided they’d prefer a shared ownership deal over a loan. That remains unconfirmed speculation.

Garcia played 34 games last season, scoring nine goals and assisting three. But the vast majority of those goal contributions were for Betis’ second team, scoring or assisting nine in nine games in the Spanish third tier.

The other three contributions were for Betis’ first team, but all in the early rounds of the Copa del Rey. In La Liga, the 20-year-old made 20 appearances for a total of just 378 minutes.

Last week, Garcia scored his first La Liga goal in another substitute appearance. But his on-field time remained limited, playing just 51 minutes of Betis’ first three games.

If Arsenal did complete a deal, it’s fair to say the youngster would have been considered a development signing and a market opportunity, rather than the first-choice level raiser the fans were badly hoping for.