The Daniel Garcia Aston Villa move is official, with Newcastle United‘s goalkeeper coach departing St James’ Park to join Unai Emery’s side ahead of the new Premier League season.
Garcia, who hails from Madrid, joined the Magpies in 2018 after arriving from Rayo Vallecano. He initially came in through the Academy goalkeeping setup before being promoted to the senior backroom in 2022. The 30-year-old was part of the Carabao Cup-winning staff in 2025, making his departure a real loss of hard-earned, trophy-proven experience.
He confirmed the move himself: ‘I’ve joined Aston Villa as Goalkeeping Assistant Coach. Today the season starts. Proud to be part of it. Up the Villa.’
Another Howe-era face heads out the door
Garcia is far from the only familiar face to leave the KNOX this summer. Jason Tindall, Graeme Jones, Simon Weatherstone and Stephen Purches all followed former head coach Eddie Howe out of the building. Howe’s trusted trainer Dan Hodges has also gone, meaning virtually the entire coaching structure that delivered that Carabao Cup has now been dismantled.
New head coach Matthias Jaissle has made no secret of the clean break. Only fitness coaches remain from the previous regime. Everyone else is new.
Jaissle has brought in Alexander Hauser as assistant coach, Engin Yanova as assistant coach, Florens Koch as coach, Maximilian Fischer as coach analyst, Steffen Konrad as coach analyst, and Alexander Bade as goalkeeper coach, the man who steps into the role Garcia leaves behind.
Who is Matthias Jaissle and what does the Daniel Garcia Aston Villa move say about his approach?
Jaissle’s willingness to overhaul the entire backroom tells you something about how he operates. This is a manager who builds his own environment from scratch. According to FotMob, he managed Al Ahli from July 2023 to August 2026 before taking the Newcastle job, and that stint ended on a serious high.
In May 2025, Jaissle led Al Ahli to victory in the AFC Champions League final, beating Kawasaki Frontale 2–0 to make them Asian champions for the first time in their history, according to Scissors Kick. That is the calibre of coaching pedigree Newcastle have brought in, and it explains why he is being given the latitude to reshape the staff entirely in his own image.
The Daniel Garcia Aston Villa move, then, is not just a personnel footnote. It is the clearest signal yet of how completely Jaissle is stamping his authority on the club’s day-to-day structure.
What Garcia brings to Villa Park
For Aston Villa, this is a straightforward gain. Garcia spent eight years at Newcastle, working his way up from Academy level and earning a place on the bench for a major cup final. He knows the Premier League environment intimately and arrives at Villa with a track record rather than a CV full of potential.
Emery’s side now have a goalkeeper coach who has operated at the top end of English football for the better part of a decade. For the Magpies, it is simply another reminder of how far the club’s coaching talent has spread across the division over the past few years.
Newcastle’s pre-season preparation continues with an entirely reshaped technical team around Jaissle. The fitness coaches aside, every coaching voice in that dressing room this season will be a new one. That is either a bold reset or a significant disruption, and the 2026/27 Premier League campaign will provide the answer.
The KNOX is a different place from the one Howe built. Whether Jaissle’s six new appointments, assembled after three years winning continental titles in Saudi Arabia, can deliver at the sharp end of the Premier League is the only question that matters now.