Barcelona have made no attempt to sign Manchester City defender Eric Garcia and their leaked interest to media is a lie.
That is according to Spanish journalist Lu Martín, who claims that the leak is a ploy from the club who can then defend their position on the player by stating they could not match the salary on offer from City.
El barça no ha hecho nada para fichar a eric garcia mas alla de filtrar a los medios su interes para luego decir ke no@puede igualar lo que ofrece el city. Es todo mentira. El city no@ha ofrecido nada ni ha recubido oferta del barça. Os lo digo yo https://t.co/f7iAlxOu3b
— Lu Martín (@LuMartinBCN) July 10, 2020
The front page of Saturday’s edition of Diario Sport last week highlighted the Catalan media outlet’s exclusive story that talks have already opened between the Blaugrana and the defender.
📰 #PortadaSPORT 🔴
🤩 ERIC GARCÍA ¡YA! 💥
📲 https://t.co/1TkPPhiibJ pic.twitter.com/cYihy4IL0K
— Diario SPORT (@sport) July 3, 2020
It follows a report last month in Diario Sport which claimed the defender is now into the final 12 months of his contract at the English champions, rather than the deal ending in 2022 as originally reported and as such Barcelona were in ‘control’ of his future.
That report drew the parallels between Garcia and that of Gerard Pique – who left La Masia’s youth academy due to mismanagement and joined Manchester United, before returning to the Camp Nou and enjoying a long and distinguished career at the club.
The 19-year-old arrived at City from the Blaugrana’s youth system in 2017 but despite defensive shortages at Pep Guardiola’s side, he has not enjoyed a lot of first-team action.
He has featured in just 14 games and started only five times in the Premier League, while he could prove to be a long-term successor to Pique at the Camp Nou.
However, whilst Barcelona transfer news may be discussing the defender’s return, that interest may not be substantiated.
