Manchester City defender Eric Garcia has signed a pre-contract agreement with Barcelona, ending months of speculation about his future, according to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano.
The Italian journalist reports that the Spaniard has put pen to paper on a five-year deal with the move expected to be confirmed when the season comes to an end:
Eric Garcia has signed his pre-contract until June 2026 with Barcelona since December. No other club has been in talks – Eric only wanted to join Barça, Laporta also approved the deal and it’s gonna be announced at the end of the season. ?? #FCB #MCFC https://t.co/DTuYHMK1nV
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) May 11, 2021
Doubts over Garcia’s move to Barca had surfaced in recent weeks, with it being claimed that the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal had entered the running for the centre-back. However, it always looked inevitable that the 20-year-old would return to the Camp Nou. Fans on Twitter are not overly concerned about the player’s departure:
We dont need him, all the best in his future endeavors
— shamir Nasmir (@ShamirNasmir) May 11, 2021
FINALLYYYYY pic.twitter.com/biLwo8QPmT
— Reforming Conor (@Conor___MCFC) May 11, 2021
Double downgrade
— Citizen in ARG ?? ????????? (@SanLorenCity) May 11, 2021
Back to the bench for him.
— Paul Human (@jamie1969inya) May 11, 2021
Wow isn’t that surprising
— Vidhan07 (@dholakia_vidhan) May 11, 2021
pic.twitter.com/fiRpRnPQcs
— Allan™⚡️ (@mcfcallan) May 11, 2021
We are so bad at selling players smh
— Yogi (@yogicen) May 11, 2021
With the likes of Ruben Dias, John Stones, Aymeric Laporte and Nathan Ake in the squad, City are certainly not short of centre-halves, but letting a promising youngster like Garcia leave on a free transfer is certainly not what anyone at the club would have had in mind.