Manchester City defender Eric Garcia has reportedly agreed personal terms with Barcelona to facilitate a return to his homeland.
According to Goal, Eric Garcia is one step away from sealing his return to Barcelona. The Manchester City contract rebel has refused to sign an extension with the Premier League giants and has now reportedly agreed personal terms with his former club ahead of a potential return to Spain.
However, the report says that while Garcia may have agreed personal terms, the deal is far from done. Barcelona and Manchester City are yet to come to an agreement to facilitate a transfer in January, which means Barcelona might have to wait till the summer to get him on a free.
Manchester City have reportedly lowered their demands for Eric Garcia and are willing to accept a bid of €5 million for the Spaniard. Barcelona were told to be ready to shell out the cut-price fee, with Carles Alena’s sale generating funds for Garcia. But, news of a bid is yet to arrive.
Eric Garcia has been on the doorstep of being a regular in the Manchester City first-team setup. Pep Guardiola, though, has preferred makeshift defenders to fill the void whenever the first-choice stars are unavailable.
Still, Garcia has managed to impress in the opportunities afforded this season, keeping 3 clean sheets in six matches in the Premier League and the Champions League combined. The Spaniard remains reluctant on signing a new Manchester City deal, with no real assurance of regular game time and doubts on Pep Guardiola’s own future at City despite signing an extension.
As far as Barcelona are concerned, Garcia has not hidden his admiration for his former club and desire to return to Spain, if the opportunity is provided.
Ronald Koeman has struggled during the early days of his managerial tenure at Barcelona, with the club not able to find a stable central defensive partnership. The Dutch manager decided to bring in a few players during the summer. But, the central defensive area was left unattended.
Gerard Pique has been sidelined with a knee injury while Samuel Umtiti has continuously been dealing with fitness issues and is likely to allowed to leave Barcelona if a good offer comes along, leaving Clement Lenglet the only first-team centre-back at Koeman’s disposal.
The Dutch manager has used Ronald Araujo to good effect, with the newly promoted Oscar Mingueza also being a welcome surprise. However, Koeman is in search of adding a quality defender to his arsenal without spending lavishly as Barcelona seem to have been hit hard with financial difficulties.
Garcia is already inculcated within the Barcelona culture and will not take much time to settle back in. At €5 million, this could be Barcelona’s best first-team transfer in years and one that is likely to be completed in the coming days, by the looks of it.
