‘He will not leave because’… Girona Sporting Director reveals why he failed to land €18m Barcelona player | OneFootball

FC Barcelona returned to the 1:1 rule in the very first hours of this new year, 2025, and the whole of the winter transfer window was ahead of them to take advantage of this change in status.

However, before they could have used this change to bring in reinforcements for Hansi Flick ahead of the second half of the season, the Blaugranes needed to bring in some cash and to generate some salary space.

Ultimately, they were able to get this income only on the last day of the market, with Nico Gonzalez’s move to Manchester City, which brought around €13 million into the Catalan club’s coffers, and thus were unable to spend this money on strengthening their team.

However, they were willing to part ways with several players in the winter transfer window to generate the required cash, and one such player who was linked with a move away from Barcelona was the defender Eric Garcia.

After having him on loan for the last season, Girona were once again looking to get him in their team in the recently closed transfer window.

As Mundo Deportivo has reported, the Girona Sporting Director, Quique Carcel, himself admitted that they tried to sign the €18m-rated Spanish defender and also revealed why Barcelona did not ultimately part ways with him:

“Eric is a player we tried to bring in because he is performing at a good level at Barça, but the club has decided that he will not leave because they count on him and have shown him that he is important to the team. His last few games have been very good, and Flick has noticed that.”

It is quite clear that after a rather tame first half of the season, Eric Garcia’s importance in Hansi Flick’s team has increased significantly in the last few weeks. Hopefully, the German will be able to get the best out of him, and Garcia will be able to contribute significantly to his team’s successes in this second half of the season.