Eric Garcia was one of the FC Barcelona players who were uncertain about their future on the final day of the summer transfer window. The defender was quite low in Xavi’s preferences for the center of his defense and was thus looking for a move away from the club.
There have been reports of Girona’s interest in the Barcelona center-back for some time now. Girona have lost one of their starting center-backs this summer, and Garcia was their primary target to replace this departing defender for the season ahead.
Agreement reached with Girona
The final few hours of the transfer window have already arrived, which raises doubts about whether Garcia will be able to complete a move to Girona before the deadline. However, Fabrizio Romano reports that the deal for Garcia to join Girona is almost completed.
The two Catalan clubs have agreed on a loan for the defender, but Girona would not have an option to buy Garcia permanently at the end of this loan.
Romano further claims that Barcelona have also approved this transfer, and the two clubs now only have to get their documents ready and signed, after which the move will be concluded.
Barcelona approve the move
This approval of Barcelona could have been one of the stumbling blocks to this transfer, as it was previously reported that Xavi was not too keen to see Garcia leave on a loan to Girona. Xavi believed the defender was an important part of his defense, in spite of the abundance of defenders available to him.
Furthermore, a loan to Girona was not going to make much difference for Barcelona in their FFP situation, thus Xavi believed that transfer to be a loss for Barcelona.
However, now with Garcia nearing a deal with Girona, it is still highly unlikely that Barcelona will miss him too much during the season. The center-back positions are already well covered, with players like Christensen, Araujo, Kounde, Martinez, and Alonso all available for Xavi.
