Pep Guardiola hopes to snub Barcelona off their defensive signing

Pep Guardiola looks to keep Barcelona target at Manchester City.

Barcelona have been trying to re-sign young talent, Eric Garcia, from Manchester City for months. The player also seemed ready to leave the English side and being in his last year of his contract, many pundits believed that City would be forced to sell the Spaniard. However, Pep Guardiola managed to keep his defender and now believes that he might not leave for Barcelona at all.

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Garcia, a product of Barcelona’s youth academy, left Spain in order to get more playing time elsewhere. Under the guidance of Guardiola, he thought that he would improve drastically and get more playtime but instead, he was rarely used before the current season. Thus when he wished for a move away from the Ethiad, people thought that it would not be a loss for City especially since they brought in Ruben Dias and Nathan Ake. Still, the Manchester side remained stubborn and refused to sell him if the Spanish Giants could not match their price tag.

Barca due to their financial crunch barely missed out on the price tag and thus were unable to see the deal through. This was very disheartening for Ronald Koeman as a young talented center-back is just what they need to replace the aging Gerard Pique. Garcia has started a few games for the Citizens and even started against the Portuguese champions in the UEFA Champions League group stage.

Guardiola now believes that he might be able to “seduce” the defender into staying and heaped him with praises after the match against Porto,

"“I know he wanted to leave but he’s going to stay and maybe we can seduce him in this year to extend the contract with us,”“He’s a guy who is so stable in many many things and we are so happy.”Source Goal."

This will be a huge blow for Barcelona who are trying to build a squad full of youngsters. A player like Garcia could have done a lot of good for the club and would have been a good investment. It is not all over though as at the end of the day it is still Garcia’s choice as he might choose not to extend his contract which would mean that he will become a free agent after this season.

Will Eric Garcia be the ideal defender for Barca?