It’s the news that many Manchester City fans expected; Eric Garcia is leaving the club.
The young centre back emerged with real quality last season, but there have been questions over his future for a long time now.
Garcia is out of contract at the end of the season, and seemingly wants to pursue first-team opportunities elsewhere.
Barcelona have been pursuing Garcia for months, but were unable to get him signed up last summer, and then missed out in January too.
Born in Barcelona and a former product of their La Masia academy, a return to Catalonia does make sense for Garcia.
The 20-year-old wasn’t even in the squad to face West Ham United on Saturday, and Pep Guardiola has confirmed that he is on his way out.
Guardiola has told Four Four Two that Garcia is ‘like a son’ to him, and it subsequently broke his heart to leave him out of City’s matchday squad.
Guardiola added that Garcia is ‘going to play in Barcelona’, seemingly confirming the centre back’s move ahead of the summer window as City bid goodbye to the young Spaniard.
“Eric Garcia is like a son,” said Garcia. “He was a guy last season that after lockdown was our best central defender. He never made a mistake and played in the quarter-final of the Champions League.”
“He’s going to play in Barcelona and that is not an average player – he is a top player. He was not selected in the last two games and it broke my heart. That is why it is difficult for all the managers when you have a squad. You cannot imagine what it means,” he added.
