Swans sign Javier Garcia

27th June
Swansea City has appointed highly regarded Spaniard Javier Garcia as the club's new goalkeeping coach.
Garcia, 34, arrives from La Liga side Sevilla and will replace Adrian Tucker who has left the club.
Barcelona-born, he is rated as one of the top goalkeeping coaches in Spain and earned huge plaudits last season after helping to guide Sevilla to the Europa League crown after their 4-2 penalty shoot-out victory over Benfica.
A coach educator and goalkeeping scout with the national Spanish Federation, he had two spells with Espanyol Under-21s before spending the last three years with Sevilla's first team.
"I'm delighted to be given the opportunity to work at a club that is growing at a rapid rate in the best league in the world,'' declared Garcia. "All the information I've received about the city and how the club, chairman and manager work convinced me to come to Swansea.
"It was hard to leave Sevilla because it is such a good club with good people. But it's a great opportunity for me to work in such a positive environment where I can develop and grow with the club. It's an exciting challenge.''
Garcia is renowned for the thoroughness of his opposition analysis and preparation work and received huge praise from Sevilla manager Unai Emery after their penalty shoot-out victory over Benfica in the Europa League final.
There was also a penalty shoot-out victory over Real Betis in the knockout stages.
"Javi has done a great job with the goalkeepers and his work with Beto (Seville goalkeeper) has been crucial,'' declared Emery after the famous victory at Juventus Stadium.
"I've already studied videos of Michel Vorm, Gerhard Tremmel and Lukasz Fabianski,'' added Garcia. "They are three top quality goalkeepers and I am looking forward to working with them.
"Each goalkeeper has his own characteristics. It's up to me to model the training sessions and preparations to keep improving their performances on a consistent basis.''
Swansea City would like to thank Adrian Tucker for his work and commitment over the last five years and wish him well in his next challenge.