One of the long-running sagas of the 2020/21 summer transfer window, was Eric Garcia to Barcelona. Manchester City had bought the youngster for a nominal fee but after the Catalan club came calling this year, the young Spanish centre-back’s head was turned at the prospect of returning to his country and playing in the first team for his boyhood club.
However, Barcelona were unable to meet City’s valuation of 20 million euros and only offered 10 million euros, considering Garcia’s contract is due to run down at the end of the 2021 summer. That saw negotiations break down and City retain the youngster as their fourth-choice defender in the centre of the backline.
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However, with the injury of Gerard Pique which could see him ruled out for upto four months, Barcelona are now targeting some defensive signings for that position in the January winter transfer window. And they believe Garcia can be that replacement not just for the current season but also in the future as well.
Manager Ronald Koeman had personally requested for him and has also openly spoken about the desire to sign the centre-back. Unquestionably, Garcia would fight in the defence right beside Clement Lenglet and could solve their defensive woes.
Eric Garcia only broke through to the first team at Manchester City in the 2019/20 season after a long-term injury to Aymeric Laporte. Compounded with the reliability issues of John Stones and Nicholas Otamendi, it gave a golden opportunity for Garcia, who had the time was impressing for the team’s EDS games in the academy.
Meanwhile, Barcelona are in a bit of a crisis currently, struggling to maintain a winning start to their league campaign. They are currently in 13th position with 11 points and have only won three of their games so far. The club can then hope that it is not too late to rescue the situation, should they get Garcia signed up at the earliest.
