Despite making it clear that he wanted to leave Man City and rejoin Barcelona, Eric Garcia didn’t get his wish.
The two teams failed to agree a deal according to a tweet from Diario Sport journalist Albert Roge and cited by Football Espana, and it means that the youngster will now stay with the Premier League outfit until the end of the campaign.
El cierre de mercado del Barça:
NO Depay
NO Eric Garcia
Rafinha de pedir 16M a regalarlo al PSG
Todibo de pedir 18M a cederlo dos años al Benfica por 2M#fcblive pic.twitter.com/IAtlMi4PkF— Albert Rogé (@albert_roge) October 5, 2020
By then his contract will have run down, and the expectation is that the Catalans will get him for nothing.
However, the loan of Jean-Clair Todibo to Benfica was supposed to pave the way for Garcia’s arrival.
Now Ronald Koeman faces the possibility of no defensive cover should there be injuries and suspensions that fall at the wrong time.
Such poor transfer business is another nail in the coffin of president, Josep Maria Bartomeu, who appears to be a dead man walking at this stage.
A vote of no confidence looks sure to succeed, meaning he would become the first-ever Barcelona president to be removed in this way.
In any event, Pep Guardiola can once again call upon the services of Garcia as needed, and Barca will have to show patience if they want to finally get their man.