Barcelona locks in Eric Garcia before free transfer next summer

Barca provisionally agreed to the terms and conditions of the contract with Eric Garcia and booked him ahead of time. The defender was due to join Barca before the transfer window closed since nothing concrete emerged by the window closed Barca did not sign on the player, but the 19-year-old was caught in a tussle between Blaugrana and City as the former was offering £18m –including £8m in potential add-ons but the latter was hoping for £20m, including a £10m initial fee. But City failed to notice that Garcia would become a free agent when his contract expires next summer and Ronald Koeman was set on having the centre-back this summer. Since they failed to land a central defender this summer it could ruin the chances of Barca winning this season.