Spending the last two seasons on loan at Girona, Aleix Garcia returned to Manchester City this summer where the arrival of Rodri blocked any potential path to the first-team for the 22-year-old.
That meant another move was needed to get some first-team football, but instead of returning to Spain, the young defensive midfielder decided to go outside of his comfort zone to play in Belgium instead.
Joining Royal Excel Mouscron on loan for the 2019-20 season, Garcia explained why he chose the Jupiler Pro League as the next step in his career.
He said, relayed by DH: “I needed to find myself again and Mouscron is the right move for me. I could have gone to La Liga, but there was nothing concrete. During the last few days of the window, they showed a lot of interest so I signed here.
However, as well as Mouscron, the player also had talks about a move to Anderlecht, where he would have teamed up with former Manchester City defender Vincent Kompany, who took over at the club as player-manager.
He explained: “I had some contact with him during the window, but in the end, I wasn’t the profile they were looking for. He was more interested in a striker. The midfield area was quote full, so it didn’t go any further than that”.
Garcia’s first game for Mouscron will have to wait until after the international break where he could face KV Kortrijk at home, who signed Fraser Hornby on loan from Everton.
