Eric García was explicitly associated with a return to Barcelona in the last transfer period, but a departure from Manchester City did not ultimately come to the young defender. The Catalans did not want to go further than twenty million euros for García and the Citizens did not consider this amount high enough to be accepted.

“Eric has become an important player for us and he has competed in a number of important matches, especially in recent months: the FA Cup semi-finals, the Champions League quarter-final,” explains football director Omar Berrada. conversation with the Manchester Evening News. Manchester City therefore did not agree with the departure of nineteen-year-old García, despite the arrival of Nathan Aké and Rúben Dias.

“He has become a top quality young center-back and Pep Guardiola trusts him. We felt it was worth more to keep him this season than the amount we were offered for him. We believe he provides the squad with extra depth and that he can be important in important games, ”Berrada continued. “This season will be very tough for the players, both physically and mentally. The schedule is packed, there is a lot of pressure on the players because they have to play for their clubs as well as for their country. ”

“The risk that injuries will occur is high, there is also a risk that players will have to be quarantined because of the corona virus. We took all that into consideration and then decided that we would like to keep him on board. It is important to have more depth in the selection, especially in a position where we have had to deal with a number of unfortunate injuries in recent years. ”

“I cannot say anything about the decisions and affairs of other clubs. We talked about Eric García with Barcelona. We have been very clear from the start about what we felt it was worth and they were unable or unwilling to comply, so we decided to keep it. We think he will be important to us this season ”, the sports director concluded. García is still stuck in the Etihad Stadium until mid-next, so he can still leave transfer-free if he does not extend his contract in the meantime.