{"id":576816,"date":"2021-01-01T02:52:57","date_gmt":"2021-01-01T07:52:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=576816"},"modified":"2021-01-01T02:52:57","modified_gmt":"2021-01-01T07:52:57","slug":"barcelona-complete-eric-garcia-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2021\/01\/01\/barcelona-complete-eric-garcia-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"REPORT: Barcelona to Complete Eric Garcia Deal for 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>While <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/clubs\/barcelona\/\" target=\"_self\">Barcelona<\/a> have not had a very easy time lately, both on and off the pitch, their luck could improve soon. In what always seemed like just a matter of time, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FabrizioRomano\/status\/1344665042378248196\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fabrizio Romano<\/a> has confirmed that Barcelona have a total agreement with <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/2bed3eab\/Eric-Garcia\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Eric Garcia<\/a>. The <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/tag\/football-transfer-rumours\/\" target=\"_self\">transfer<\/a> will go through sometime in 2021, likely in the summer.<\/p>\n<h2>Barcelona to Complete Eric Garcia Deal for 2021<\/h2>\n<h3>Former La Masia Youth Product<\/h3>\n<p>Ever since Eric Garcia found out that Barcelona were interested in him, it was clear he only had one club in mind. Even though <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/b21fe2db\/Pep-Guardiola\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pep Guardiola<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/category\/premier-league\/manchester-city\/\" target=\"_self\">Manchester City<\/a> had big plans for him, he decided to <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2020\/08\/06\/eric-garcia-refuses-contract-extenstion\/\" target=\"_self\">snub a contract extension<\/a> and wait it out.<\/p>\n<p>Last summer, Barca were very close to a deal for him, but given the awful financial situation at the club, it was not possible. Now, though, he&#8217;ll be available as a free transfer in the summer, which makes it much easier for the club to bring him back.<\/p>\n<p>Much like all products of Barcelona&#8217;s famed La Masia academy, Garcia has dreamt of playing for the senior team. After much speculation, it seems that this dream will become a reality.<\/p>\n<h3>Much-Needed Cover at the Back<\/h3>\n<p>With the long-term injury to <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/adfc9123\/Gerard-Pique\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Gerard Pique<\/a>, one which could potentially spell the end of his illustrious career, Barca are short on defensive options.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/4f28a6ff\/Clement-Lenglet\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Clement Lenglet<\/a> is still there, but he has been very shaky recently after an impressive debut season. Youngsters <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/2bef2bca\/Ronald-Araujo\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ronald Araujo<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/056269d7\/Oscar-Mingueza\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Oscar Mingueza<\/a> have become first-team regulars in the past few months, and both look very good for the future.<\/p>\n<p>Then, of course, the case of <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/3eed9821\/Samuel-Umtiti\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Samuel Umtiti<\/a>; the man who was once one of the best in the world, and is now merely an afterthought. His chronic and recurring knee injuries have meant that he can&#8217;t be relied upon. Unfortunately for him, it also means that he is unlikely to be a starter for a top club again.<\/p>\n<p>The need for Garcia is now stronger than ever. With Araujo and Mingueza, he can form a partnership at the back that could serve Barca for years to come. He is tailor-made for the club, and the club is tailor-made for him.<\/p>\n<p>He is likely counting the days until his dream move back to Barcelona is confirmed, and that day should be in the very near future.<\/p>\n<p>Keep up to date with the<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/football-transfer-news\/?amp&amp;__twitter_impression=true\" target=\"_self\"> latest transfer rumours here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"OOlejoZrTotkpG-lt98bMw\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.co.uk\/detail\/1284273828\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'OOlejoZrTotkpG-lt98bMw',sig:'tHrDXg55bAeUUaPSJVeB7P-k4HEXGTYgw4uOtaTYaqQ=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1284273828',caption: true ,tld:'co.uk',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While Barcelona have not had a very easy time lately, both on and off the pitch, their luck could improve soon. In what always seemed like just a matter of time, Fabrizio Romano has confirmed that Barcelona have a total agreement with Eric Garcia. The transfer will go through sometime in 2021, likely in the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3607,"featured_media":576820,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1365,2,6,17,30,3,7188,28],"tags":[464,7335,3185,1297,7244,142,136],"class_list":["post-576816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-barcelona","category-featured","category-la-liga","category-manchester-city","category-news","category-premier-league","category-rumours","category-transfers","tag-barcelona","tag-barcelona-transfers","tag-eric-garcia","tag-football-transfer-news","tag-football-transfer-rumours","tag-la-liga","tag-world-football"],"modified_by":"Dale Ventham, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3607"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=576816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/576820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=576816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=576816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=576816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}