Koeman comments on potential Eric Garcia transfer

Martin Macdonald

• Updated: 17 May 2021 22:22 BST
• 2 min read

Ronald Koeman has put the ball firmly in Manchester City’s court with regards to the transfer of defender Eric Garcia to Barcelona.

The 19-year-old is a product of Barca’s famed La Masia academy, but left in 2017 to join Man City where he initially featured in the youth teams, even captaining the u18s.

He made his senior debut for City in a League Cup match against Leicester in December of 2018, and since then began to make infrequent appearances for the first team.

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At the turn of the year in 2019 into 2020, he was brought it to help with City’s hectic festive schedule, and from there became a more regular fixture in the team. After lockdown in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, he managed to usurp Nicolas Otamendi and John Stones as Pep Guardiola’s preferred defensive partner for Aymeric Laporte.

However, Guardiola would later confirm that Garcia had rejected a new contract with the club, and with his current deal running out in the summer of 2021, that alerted Barcelona who were keen to buy him for a cut-price fee.

Prior to the 2020/21 season, Barca were interested but were unable to put together the funds, with he Blaugrana having been hit hard financially due to the pandemic. No transfer materalised, but no new contract was agreed upon with Garcia.

The assumption was that Barcelona would return with a bid in January or simply wait and sign the young Spaniard for free in the summer, and according to Koeman, the interest is still there.

The Barca boss was, however, coy on the subject when asked about the transfer of Garcia by Mundo Deportivo.

“Well, I don’t know. It depends on Manchester City,” Koeman responded when questioned about a January move for Garcia.

The 19-year-old has since fell down the pecking order at City, with the club spending €68m on Ruben Dias in the summer to act as a new partner for Laporte.