Barcelona are planning an attempt to strong-arm Manchester City into allowing Eric Garcia to leave on the cheap in January.
That’s according to Mundo Deportivo, who report that the Spanish giants have a plan after failing to sign the centre back in the summer.
As you’ll be aware, Barça pushed to secure Garcia’s signature throughout the transfer window, and he made it clear he wanted the move, but Manchester City refused to lower their demands to what Barcelona were willing to pay.
Thus a move never happened but, with Garcia’s contract expiring next summer and him unlikely to sign a new one, it’s widely felt he’ll sort out a move to the Camp Nou come January.
That is certainly the plan, say Mundo, who report that the club’s leaders plan to ‘tie’ Garcia to a contract so that they can sign him on a free next summer.
After doing so, they are then going to go to Manchester City and see if they ‘want to charge something’ for the player in January.
The idea is that City will put a ‘reasonable’ price tag on him to ensure that they can get something for the defender rather than losing him for nothing down the line.
Barcelona believe that they can get away with offering around €4m to City, although there is a belief at the club that Manchester City will just turn that down as they have ‘the muscle of the petroleum of their sponsors’.
In other words, they’re rich, and €4m is like loose change so they’re unlikely to be interested in the proposal.
Garcia, for his part, has informed Barcelona of his ‘total predisposition’ to return to his former club, so they know their strategy is a safe one from that point at least.
With a rejection from City expected, though, it looks like this transfer won’t be happening until next summer at the earliest.
