Manchester City have a number of players out of contract at the end of the season, and one of them appears to have his next move lined up.
The focus is on Sergio Aguero and Fernandinho, given that the veteran duo have been key players for many years now.
Another player whose deal expires is Eric Garcia, the centre back who showed so much promise at the back end of last season.
Even earlier in the campaign, Pep Guardiola branded Garcia ‘so clever’, outlining his plans for a bright future for the elegant centre back.
Garcia, 20, joined City from Barcelona in 2017, and has now made 30 first-team appearances for the club, but looks set to leave.
Garcia has long been linked with a return to Barcelona, having so far failed to sign a new deal or even shown an indication that he wants to stay at City.
Now inside the final six months of his contract, Garcia can sign a pre-contract agreement with a non-English club, and a move back to Barcelona is now expected.
Spanish football expert Guillem Balague has now admitted that Barcelona’s plan is to just sign Garcia for free rather than pay money for him this month, noting that Barca are so debt-ridden that they can’t afford to sign him right now.
“So the plan will be to get him at the end of the season, when he comes on a free, which makes sense,” said Balague. “€5million was nothing in the past, €5million is a lot for Barcelona right now. They’ve run a debt of around €100million from last season, and about €800million or €900million is the total debt, which is crippling – really, it is difficult to come out and try to find money to get big stars. It’s not going to be possible for Barcelona for a while,” he added.
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