Manchester City have confirmed that Eric Garcia will miss Boxing Day’s clash with Newcastle United. The £18m-rated centre-back is still out of action with a knock to his leg suffered in City’s Champions League win over Olympique Marseille which has caused him to miss City’s last four games in all competitions.
Garcia wasn’t commanding a starting place before picking up the injury, so he wouldn’t have featured regardless, however. At best, he’d be making the bench while Ruben Dias and John Stones partnered each other at centre-back – the 23-year-old and 26-year-old started in Saturday’s 1-0 win over Southampton and could keep their place on the weekend. Aymeric Laporte is an option after starting in City’s Carabao Cup win over Arsenal too.
Garcia has made seven appearances in all competitions this season and finds himself behind Dias, Stones and Laporte in the pecking order. The Spanish international has played in only three Premier League games, the last of which came in November, so opportunities under Pep Guardiola have been few and far between.
City are 8th in the table but have the best defensive record (12 goals conceded) after 13 games, so Garcia has a task on his hands to get the nod when fit.
In other news, Man City eye £18m-rated Riqui Puig who boasts more dribbles than Raheem Sterling