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Why Barcelona failed to sign Man City’s £16.36m-rated youngster on deadline day

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Barcelona had been linked with Eric Garcia this summer as they wanted an additional centre-back to accompany Gerard Pique, Ronald Araújo, Samuel Umtiti and Clément Lenglet this season. The Catalans missed out on Garcia on deadline day, however, and the Daily Mail have revealed why.

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Failed to match asking price

Barcelona failed to match our asking price for Garcia and ran out of time to complete a deal. The Daily Mail say the Catalan’s final offer was €15m (£13.6m) + Rafinha, but we were unwilling to let him go for less than €18m (£16.36m) and thus rejected their bid.

That’s not to say Garcia won’t return to Barcelona in the future, however, as he’s out of contract in 2021 and may not sign a new deal at City. The Spanish international has made 25 appearances since joining from Barca, but the Daily Mail predict he could go back to the Camp Nou for free next year.

Until then, Ronald Koeman will have to rely on Santi Ramos Mingo to provide cover.

We’re overstocked at the back

Garcia staying means Pep Guardiola has got Aymeric Laporte, Ruben Dias, John Stones and Nathan Ake at his disposal. We loaned out Tosin Adarabioyo to Fulham and tried to sell John Stones on deadline day but are still overstocked at centre-back.

It may be difficult for Pep to keep all five players happy this season. Time will tell how he fares.

In other news, Middlesbrough are ‘set to sign’ Patrick Roberts from Manchester City’s ‘on loan’

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Sports journalist who is an avid football fan, enjoys debunking transfer rumours, loves to write pieces about players out in the cold and takes a large amount of pride getting a predicted XI 100% correct.