Barcelona presidential candidate Víctor Font has backed a move for Manchester City defender Eric Garcia this month.
Garcia has been heavily linked with a move to the Nou Camp since the summer when Barcelona tried unsuccessfully to sign him from Manchester City.
That deal failed due to the two clubs being unable to agree on a valuation for the player, who at that point had one year left on his contract at the Etihad.
Barcelona’s interest has not gone away since then, and they have been trying to work on a deal with City again this month.
So far that hasn’t happened, with the two clubs again failing to agree on an asking price so that the centre-back can move this month as opposed to the summer.
He reportedly already has an agreement in place to make that switch, but Barcelona are keen to reach an agreement with Manchester City, particularly after losing Gerard Pique’s long-term injury.
“From the club, it was explained to us that they insist on reinforcing this position and doing everything possible so that Eric joins the club now,” he told Mundo Deportivo.
“We will try to make an effort; we know that it is a unique case.
“He is a player who is about to end his contract, and it would be a small investment, and he is a player that we can surely adjust his salary and can afford.
“These are amounts that are worth the effort or at the very least negotiating with the club that owns the rights to Eric Garcia. It is worth making an effort.”
That, though, is not a sentiment shared by his fellow candidate Joan Laporta, who is very much in favour of saving money and waiting for the defender to arrive in the summer instead.
“If he finishes contract on June 30, he interests the technicians of the club and wants to come to the Barça, it is possible to be waited for at the end of season,” he told Sport.
“He is free to come here in a few months, and they can save those five million euros that were asked, plus the card of the player, the commission of the agents.
“It was premature that he was coming now.”
