Mikel Arteta is reportedly monitoring Eric Garcia’s situation at Manchester City as Arsenal consider a transfer move for the Barcelona target.
The Sun have reported of growing interest in Eric Garcia. The Manchester City defender has already been closely linked with a move to Barcelona. However, Mikel Arteta is now monitoring the Spaniard’s situation at Etihad and potentially eyeing Garcia as an addition to his defensive arsenal.
The report has also highlighted Real Madrid as an interested party, with the mention that Garcia will be out of contract in the summer, having rejected a new Manchester City deal before the start of the 2020/21 Premier League season. It also iterates that the defender has his heart set on a move back to Barcelona.
However, Barcelona are cash-strapped and are looking to offload stars in January while also moving on non-key players on loan to shave off some money off the wage bill. In such a dire financial scenario, the Catalan giants are unlikely to want to spend any cash on a January deal for Garcia, when they can snap him up on a free transfer in the summer of 2021.
Arsenal and Real Madrid, though, will be looking to do the same as the race to sign Garcia hots up.
Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal are not strapped for cash but have an overload of options in central defence at the moment. The likes of William Saliba, Shkodran Mustafi, Calum Chambers, Pablo Mari and Sokratis are all starving for some Premier League game time, with Saliba egging to go out on loan for regular football.
Sokratis and Mustafi will see their deals run out in the summer of 2021 and are unlikely to earn a January transfer. Arteta will mostly not be allowed to add to his defensive unit in January unless he can offload a couple of stars, especially with John Stones also on their radar.
In the summer, however, Garcia does present himself as a credible option. The Spaniard is young and will be part of the future fortress Arteta is trying to build. The Manchester City starlet, though, prefers a return to Spain, which gives Barcelona the edge.
Manchester City are also trying to convince Garcia to sign a new long-term deal at Etihad, with Pep Guardiola starting to offer him more regular game time. Arsenal, though, will be the dark horses to land Garcia if the 19-year-old fails to sign a new Manchester City by the summer.
