Gonzalo Garcia on La Liga's radar: Moretto claims Spanish top-flight clubs are monitoring him
Gonzalo Garcia, Hajduk's coach, has attracted interest from clubs in Spain's La Liga, Italian journalist and transfer insider Matteo Moretto reported on June 4, 2026. According to Moretto's post, which was relayed by Slobodna Dalmacija, the 42-year-old coach of the Split club is considered one of the Spanish specialists with the greatest prospects in European football. The post states that Garcia has a contract with Hajduk until the summer of 2028, which is an important detail in assessing any possible interest from the market. At present, the names of the Spanish clubs monitoring him have not been stated, nor has it been officially confirmed that any concrete negotiating steps have been made toward Hajduk. That is why, for now, this information can be read as a market signal rather than an announcement of an imminent departure from Poljud.
The news comes after a season in which Hajduk, under Garcia's leadership, finished second in the SuperSport HNL. According to Global Sports Archive data for the 2025/26 season, the Split team won 68 points in 36 league matches, with 20 wins, eight draws and eight defeats. Dinamo finished ahead of Hajduk with 86 points, while Varaždin, Rijeka and the other top-flight clubs remained behind the Split club. These data do not mean that a possible departure of the coach is likely, but they explain why Garcia's name is once again appearing in an international context. Second place, a stable points return and the development of several players represent measurable elements that are regularly observed on the coaching market.
What Matteo Moretto reported
Moretto, according to Slobodna Dalmacija's report, wrote that Hajduk's coach is attracting interest in La Liga after establishing himself as one of the Spanish coaches with the greatest projection in Europe. The wording is cautious because it does not speak of an agreement, negotiations or a formal offer, but of interest and monitoring. In football business, such reports often precede more concrete moves, but they can just as easily remain at the level of market assessment and information gathering. Clubs from the strongest leagues regularly monitor coaches who have international experience, work in competitively demanding environments and show the ability to adapt to different budgets. Garcia fits that description because of his work in the Netherlands, Croatia and Portugal, but for now there is no official confirmation that any Spanish club has opened negotiations.
It is important to distinguish interest from an offer. Interest may mean that the coach is on a broader list of candidates, that scouting or analytical material has been collected about him, or that a club's sporting department sees him as a possible option for the future. An offer, on the other hand, would imply concrete contact with the club or the coach's representatives, financial terms and a discussion about contractual obligations. According to the available information, that level of the process has not been confirmed. Hajduk has not officially commented on Moretto's report, and the post does not reveal whether Garcia's contract contains any special clauses that would regulate a possible departure before the summer of 2028.
Contract with Hajduk and the club's position
On June 13, 2025, Hajduk officially announced that Gonzalo Garcia had become the coach of the first team and that he had signed a contract with the club until the summer of 2028. The Split club presented him at the time as a long-term solution after the departure of Gennaro Gattuso, and his arrival was completed ahead of the start of preparations for the new season. Hajduk's official announcement stated that Garcia was born on October 13, 1983 in Montevideo, that he spent a large part of his life and football career in Spain, and that in his younger days he was part of Real Madrid's system. In the same announcement, the club also highlighted his experience with Istra 1961, which was particularly important because he already knew the Croatian championship well.
For Hajduk, the length of the contract is a key protective mechanism. A coach who has a valid contract for another two years is not free on the market, and any interest from another club, if it were to grow into negotiations, would have to be resolved with the consent of the Split club or through the terms of the contract. In practice, that means every serious approach would also have to include the issue of compensation, unless the contract provides for a different exit model. Such details have not been publicly confirmed. For that reason, the most precise thing to say at the moment is that Garcia remains Hajduk's coach with a valid contract, while the interest from Spain is information reported by a relevant transfer journalist, but without an official follow-up.
Results that strengthened his profile
Garcia arrived at Hajduk with a reputation as a coach who knows how to work in environments where clear organization of play and player development are required. Already during his earlier spell at Istra 1961, the Croatian public came to know him as a specialist who insists on structure, discipline in possession and a braver build-up from the back line. In Pula, according to official club announcements and later statistical overviews of his career, he worked in two spells, first from 2021 to 2023, and then returned in the 2024/25 season. That work was important for his later candidacy for Hajduk because it showed that he could function in the HNL, a league with a small number of clubs, frequent head-to-head meetings and major tactical adjustments.
The 2025/26 season further raised his profile because Hajduk finished second in the championship, with a clear points gap over the chasing pack. According to Global Sports Archive, Hajduk scored 61 goals and conceded 36, giving them a positive goal difference of 25. In the same statistical overview, Dinamo finished first and Hajduk second, with the Split club securing a position near the top of domestic football. In the context of the coaching market, continuity is looked at in particular, not just an individual result. In the season after his arrival, Garcia managed to keep Hajduk near the top, stabilize the team and avoid the decline that often follows coaching changes and changes in sporting direction.
Why La Liga is a logical framework for this kind of interest
Linking Garcia with Spanish clubs is not surprising because of his biography. Although he was born in Uruguay, he spent a large part of his life in Spain, developed there as a footballer and holds Spanish citizenship. Hajduk's official biography states that in his youth he played for Spain's youth national teams, and as a player he passed through clubs in Spain, the Netherlands, Cyprus and Israel. Such a path creates a network of contacts and an understanding of the football culture that is important to La Liga clubs when they assess coaches from outside the domestic market. Garcia is not a coach who would enter Spanish football without knowledge of the language, context and expectations.
In recent years, Spanish clubs have increasingly been looking at coaches who gained experience outside the country, especially if they worked in leagues where adaptability and the development of players with more limited resources are required. Garcia is interesting in that sense because he did not build his career through the richest clubs, but through environments where results depend on organization, a clear playing model and the ability for a team to adapt quickly. At Twente he worked in a Dutch environment, at Istra he dealt with the realities of the Croatian championship, at Arouca he had a short spell in the Portuguese league, and at Hajduk he encountered the pressure of a big club and an ambitious environment. Such a combination can be attractive to clubs looking for a coach with international experience, but also room for further development.
A career that was not built through shortcuts
After his playing career, Garcia entered coaching relatively quickly. Hajduk's official website, in its overview of his career, states that as a player he appeared for Real Madrid, Alcorcon, Merida, Palencia, Compostela, AGOVV, Heerenveen, Heracles, Groningen, VVV, AEK Larnaca, Anorthosis and Maccabi Tel Aviv. His coaching path led him through Twente, Istra 1961 and Arouca to Hajduk. This is not the biography of a coach who immediately received the biggest stage, but of a specialist who gradually built his profile through different countries and different football cultures. Precisely that diversity of experience is often important in assessing potential, because it shows the ability to work in changing conditions.
In Portugal, he took over Arouca in 2024, and Portuguese media reported that he had signed a one-season contract with an option to extend. In October of the same year, A Bola, citing the club's announcement, reported that Arouca and Garcia had mutually terminated the contract. That short spell did not stop his return to Croatian football, where he again took over Istra 1961 and then arrived at Hajduk. In coaching careers, such rises and interruptions are not unusual, especially among specialists who work outside the biggest budgets and often take over projects in transitional phases. For Garcia, what matters more is that after every step he remained present on the market and continued to receive jobs that require responsibility.
Hajduk's perspective: interest does not have to mean a problem, but it requires caution
For Hajduk, information of this kind has two sides. On the one hand, interest from clubs in a stronger league confirms that the club appointed a coach whose work is visible beyond Croatia's borders. That can be positive for the club's image, for the market value of the coaching staff and for the perception of the sporting project. On the other hand, every such report opens the question of stability, especially in a period when preparations, the transfer window and goals for the new season are being planned. Clubs that want to build a team over the long term must have clear communication with the coach and clear internal scenarios in case the interest grows into something more concrete. For now, according to the available information, there is no confirmation that this has happened.
At his presentation in Split, Garcia spoke about growth, the team's identity and the responsibility carried by a big club. Hajduk then published his words that the goal is to grow as a club, create the team's identity and have a clear vision. Such statements carry additional weight today because the continuity of the project is measured against them. If the coach stays, the club can continue developing the model started in the 2025/26 season. If a serious possibility of departure were to open up in the future, Hajduk would have to assess the sporting and financial impact of such an outcome. At this moment, however, publicly available information goes no further than the claim that Spanish top-flight clubs are monitoring Garcia's work.
What comes next
The next steps will depend on whether more concrete signals emerge from Spain. If it remains only at the level of interest, Garcia will continue preparing Hajduk for the new season with a contract that runs until the summer of 2028. If club names, formal contacts or negotiations appear, the situation will carry different weight. In such circumstances, an official statement from Hajduk would be crucial, because the Split club holds the contractual position and without its role it is not realistic to speak about the realization of any coaching transfer. Until then, the most accurate description of the situation is that Garcia is Hajduk's coach who, according to Matteo Moretto's report, has entered the focus of part of the La Liga market.
For Garcia, the very fact that he is being mentioned in the context of Spanish top-flight clubs is confirmation that his work in Croatia has gained international visibility. For Hajduk, it is at the same time recognition and a reminder that stable results create interest not only in players but also in coaches. The football market reacts quickly to such signals, but concrete outcomes usually depend on contracts, club plans, financial terms and the moment when a coaching vacancy opens. That is why Garcia's situation will most likely continue to be monitored in the coming weeks, especially if La Liga clubs begin making changes to their coaching staffs before the start of the new season.
Sources:
- Slobodna Dalmacija – report on Matteo Moretto's post about interest from La Liga clubs in Gonzalo Garcia (link)
- HNK Hajduk Split – official announcement on Gonzalo Garcia's appointment and contract until the summer of 2028 (link)
- HNK Hajduk Split – official presentation of the coach and statements about the work plan at Poljud (link)
- HNK Hajduk Split – club overview of Gonzalo Garcia's coaching and playing career (link)
- Global Sports Archive – table and statistical overview of the 2025/26 SuperSport HNL season (link)
- NK Istra 1961 – official announcement on Gonzalo Garcia's arrival on the Istra 1961 bench in 2021 (link)
- A Bola – report on the mutual termination of the contract between Arouca and Gonzalo Garcia in 2024 (link)