On Thursday, Barcelona presidential candidate Victor Font claimed he ‘feels bad’ that the club haven’t managed to sign Eric Garcia from Manchester City yet.
Following the Camp Nou side’s 2-0 defeat to Sevilla, it’s been pointed out that the centre-back could have helped the Catalan club to get a better result.
Now it’s time for those who were against the signing to defend themselves. This is the case of Joan Laporta, who’s also a candidate for the presidency, and positioned himself against the January transfer.
Quoted by Sport, the official claims it was a matter of showing young players they can’t just leave Barcelona’s youth ranks and then be bought by the club again.
“It’s a matter of coherence in all areas. Economic, statutory and sporting. The coach has to find solutions to the situations in that arise. In addition, you have to take into account the message you send to La Masia. You cannot transmit to children that they will leave for free when they are 16 years old and that they will return when they want and also paying for them when they can come for free,” said Laporta.
“It seems to me to be an out of place advantage to say that yesterday’s defeat against Sevilla would not have occurred if we had Eric.”
Eric Garcia left Barcelona in 2017, at the age of 16, to join Manchester City. Following a few years at the Premier League club’s academy, he was promoted in 2019 to the first team, for whom he has 32 appearances so far.
Now with his contract expiring at the end of the season, he’s expected to make the move back to Catalonia. After refusing to pay for the move in January, Barcelona should now have the defender back for free.
