What would signing Eric Garcia mean for Barcelona?

It would appear that Barcelona are keen to re-sign Eric Garcia from Manchester City if reports are accurate.

The youngster learned his craft at La Masia but was tempted by a move to Manchester because of the carrot of being able to get first-team minutes under his belt. Something that wasn’t available to him at Barca at the time.

With a year left on his contract, Garcia has some thinking to do.It’s said that the Citizens have offered to quadruple his salary in order to keep him out of Barca’s clutches, however, with only a year left on his current deal at the Etihad Stadium, they know if he doesn’t sign his renewal, he can leave for free in 12 months time.

Clearly, that’s not something Man City will want to entertain, and to that end, Barcelona may be able to acquire a centre-back with all of the necessary attributes they require for as little as €15-€20m, which is well within their reach.

Were they to press ahead with that particular option, it surely spells the end of the road at the Camp Nou for Samuel Umtiti.

One of the best, if not the best defenders in La Liga in his first couple of seasons for the club, injuries and a complete loss of form have seen the French World Cup winner well out of the picture for some while now.

There’s not really any way back for him at the moment and if Garcia was to arrive that really would be the final nail in his coffin.

Barcelona president, Josep Maria Bartomeu, has already come out publicly and said Barca B star, Ronald Araujo, is one of a select bunch of youngsters at the club that are absolutely not for sale, which means that Jean-Clair Todibo must also be on his way too.

Todibo looks like an incredible prospect for the future to all but Barcelona themselves, and perhaps it’s the money that they could bank with his sale that has conditioned their thinking.

Gerard Pique and Clement Lenglet will remain first choice for the club during 2020/21 unless there’s a huge surprise, but having Araujo and Garcia as back ups puts Barca in a healthy position as far as their centre-backs are concerned.

Will Garcia improve what the Catalans already have in situ? Undoubtedly. Though it’s likely to take an awful lot of persuading for him to return home.