Remember the name Eric Garcia, Arsenal fans? According to the Daily Star, Mikel Arteta wanted the defender at the Emirates Stadium.
However, the 20-year-old was said to have rejected the Gunners in favour of a move to Barcelona, where he spent time in La Masia.
The 14-cap Spain international signed a five-year contract at the Camp Nou, which included a huge £344m release clause.
However, things have been pretty miserable for Garcia since he rejected Arsenal and returned to Barcelona.
What’s the story?
Well, the centre-back has already received two red cards in just seven appearances for Ronald Koeman’s side.
Garcia has also been part of an underwhelming Barcelona team who currently sit 7th in La Liga, having won four of their eight games.
Above all, however, the youngster has statistically been the worst performing player in the Champions League this season.
As WhoScored show, Garcia has earned an average rating of just 5.31.
Arsenal were lucky with Eric Garcia
It isn’t unfair to say that Arteta and Edu dodged a bullet.
Yes, Barcelona haven’t been great in general, although Garcia has looked far from ready to play at this level.
Instead, Arsenal signed Ben White, who was a little bit more expensive at £50m, although he’s ten times the player Garcia is – albeit four years older.
There’s still plenty of time for the Spaniard to turn his Barcelona career around, and we’re confident he will.
However, Arteta doesn’t have time to wait for players to develop anymore, so he can consider himself fortunate to have missed out on Garcia.
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