According to The Sun, Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta wants to reunite with Manchester City defender Eric Garcia.
It’s claimed that Arteta wants a reunion with the Spaniard having coached him at City, whilst Garcia’s contract situation is also appealing.
The 19-year-old is out of contract at the end of the season, and it looks like he will be leaving City having failed to agree a new deal.
Garcia wants to rejoin Barcelona, but couldn’t pay a £13.5million fee to sign him over the summer – and may struggle to do so in January.
Arteta now wants to wedge himself into the race and challenge Barcelona for Garcia, though he would have to offload a centre back of his own to make a January deal happen.
Barcelona will have to wait until the summer to sign Garcia at the end of his deal, giving Arsenal time to formulate an offer of their own.
Arsenal have their left-footed centre back for years to come in Gabriel Magalhaes, but settling on a long-term partner will be a priority.
Garcia could even fit as a right-sided centre back in a three-man defence if Arteta goes that way, and his ability to play out from the back certainly makes sense.
City will likely play hardball even with Garcia in the final stages of his contract, but Arsenal may now hope to beat Barcelona to his signature with Arteta the big selling point.
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