Eric Garcia’s Barcelona redemption: From the exit door to Hansi Flick’s best defender

Eric Garcia’s Barcelona redemption: From the exit door to Hansi Flick’s best defender

Eric Garcia being Barcelona’s best defender this season will have come as a surprise to many.

Under coach Hansi Flick, the 24-year-old is now truly shining for the first time since he rejoined his boyhood club from Manchester City in the summer of 2021.

Before Flick’s arrival, Garcia had been out of the team or on the sidelines. He spent the 2023-24 campaign on loan at Girona and came close to a permanent exit on more than one occasion.

But he is now Barca’s second most-used player so far this term, behind only Pedri. No team-mate has made more tackles (10). He is first for progressive passing distance, according to FBref.com, with 3,975 yards.

His versatility has also been on show. He has performed well at right-back when needed, but even better at centre-back alongside Pau Cubarsi. With Barca facing early La Liga leaders Real Madrid next Sunday, October 26, in the first Clasico of the season, that pairing could well be Flick’s preference at the back, leaving Ronald Araujo and Andreas Christensen on the bench.

It is the dream scenario every Barca fan had in their minds when Garcia came back to the club he first left for City as a 16-year-old in 2017.

This is the story of his Barca redemption — and why Flick needs him more than ever.


Born in Martorell, about a 30-minutes drive north of Barcelona, Garcia joined the club’s famed academy, La Masia, when he was five. He captained every age group on his way through the ranks, with the club making the most of his leadership qualities and early physical development.

By the time of his departure, there was consensus that he was La Masia’s best defensive talent. His decision to leave for City — where ex-Barca icon Pep Guardiola had arrived the year before — caused huge drama among local media.

Sources who worked in Barca’s youth setup at the time, speaking anonymously in order to protect their position, like all those cited in this article, believe Garcia should have been offered a clearer pathway to the first team given his potential.

At the time, the teenager was not even shown a potential future with Barca’s reserve team. The club were also bringing in other young centre-backs in moves that did not work out.

Between 2014 and 2017, they signed the now-Wolverhampton Wanderers player Santiago Bueno from Uruguayan side Penarol, Fulham’s Jorge Cuenca from Alcorcon, and the Senegalese defender Diawandou Diagne from Belgian side Eupen. Cuenca was the only one to make an appearance for Barca’s first team, while Diagne is now without a club.

On both a sporting and financial level, City offered Garcia a better platform to shine. He spent four years in Manchester, starting with the under-18s and reaching the senior side (he made 35 appearances for them). His progress was about as speedy as it gets, with Guardiola seeing him as a huge talent.

City offered Garcia a platform to shine (Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)

But in 2020-21, Garcia’s third season at City, things changed — thanks in part to developments at Barca.

Several movements behind the scenes in the Catalan club’s sporting direction department and La Masia meant Barca decided to try to re-sign Garcia. This time, he would be a first-team player.

Garcia, a lifelong Barca fan, was quickly interested. During the final 18 months of his spell at City, he did not engage in new contract talks, which affected his standing among City fans. There was growing frustration over the Premier League side investing and giving playing time to someone who did not seem to plan on staying.

Garcia made a bold move to fulfil his childhood dream by returning to Barca, but when he landed back in Catalonia four years after leaving, Barca were a mess.

Joan Laporta had returned as president following Josep Maria Bartomeu’s dramatic resignation. The side led by Ronald Koeman had finished third in La Liga after being thrashed by Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League round of 16. And later that summer, Lionel Messi left the club in tears before joining PSG on a free transfer.

So Garcia re-joined in tricky circumstances, and with a lot of expectation on his shoulders.

“Barcelona have made a spectacular signing,” Guardiola said at a charity event in summer 2021. “They just got a captain for the next decade”.

But surrounded by an unbalanced squad and institutional chaos, he did not hit the ground running. He was in and out of the starting line-up under Koeman and the Dutchman was sacked and replaced by Barca’s legendary former midfielder Xavi in October.

Under Xavi, Garcia initially gained importance. He featured in the 4-0 victory at Real Madrid in March 2022, but Madrid won the league by 13 points that season, with Barca trailing in second. Big changes were coming.

In that summer of 2022, Laporta’s board backed Xavi with a €170million ($198m; £148m at current exchange rates) transfer spend that transformed the squad — helped by their now-infamous financial ‘levers’.

In defence, the signings of Jules Kounde and Christensen relegated Garcia to a secondary role. He became something of a meme among fans on social media, who were unimpressed by his performances in painful defeats to Eintracht Frankfurt in the 2021-22 Europa League quarter-finals and did not think he was worthy of regular Spain call-ups under then-coach Luis Enrique. The last of Garcia’s 19 international caps came in November 2022 and he has not featured under Luis de la Fuente.

Despite Xavi urging him to stay and wait for his chance, Garcia opted to join fellow Catalan side Girona on loan for the 2023-24 campaign. The insistence of manager Michel and his attractive football philosophy were key in convincing him.

Leaving Barcelona is a path not all players are willing to take, and this was Garcia’s second time walking away. There are many risks attached to it: what if you never come back? What if you do not find confidence elsewhere? But Garcia’s mindset was different.

“I felt like I needed to prove myself again,” he said in an interview with The Athletic in March 2024. “In pre-season at Barca, I had some doubts over my role, and I’m at an age when I need to play”.

He did just that, featuring in 31 games in that season with Girona and scoring five goals. He was fundamental in a historic campaign in which the City Football Group-owned club led the table in the early stages of the season and earned a first-ever spot in the Champions League. Michel trusted Garcia like no other manager before then.

The centre-back was a key player for Michel’s Girona (Manaure Quintero/AFP via Getty Images)

“Eric would tell me that if he was not wanted (when he finished his loan spell), he’d return to Girona,” Michel told Cadena Ser last year. “But I replied to him that it certainly would not happen… and it did not.”

It was not for the want of trying from Girona. In the summer of 2024, they made an offer to Barca to sign Garcia permanently. The defender was unsure of his role under the newly appointed Flick and was extremely keen on the idea, particularly with Girona in the Champions League. But by the end of the transfer window, Christensen had suffered an Achilles injury and Flick had decided Garcia would stay with his first team.

Last season, the German used Garcia as a valuable rotational player, mainly as a backup holding midfielder. Flick was happy with Garcia’s attitude, but interest from other clubs came up again in the January transfer window. Girona were still keen, but it was Serie A side Como who made a significant push for him. Garcia had entered the final 18 months of his Barca deal and sporting director Deco was not opposed to sanctioning a sale for a player who was at risk of leaving for free in the following two summer windows.

The turning point came in a Champions League match against Benfica in the competition’s league phase in January. Garcia came on for Kounde in the 74th minute with Barca losing 4-2, scored the equaliser to make it 4-4 in a madcap comeback, and played a key role as the Catalans won 5-4 thanks to Raphinha’s late winner. Flick knew he could not let Garcia go after that victory and discussions over his sale to Como were ended.

The defender has not looked back since — and now Barca do not see a future without him. They are in talks with Garcia’s camp over a contract extension and the player is willing to commit his long-term future to Barca.

“Our plan for Eric is to have him staying once we reach an agreement according to our salary scale,” Deco told Catalunya Radio last week. “He’s turned the tables on his situation, he’s 24, and we are very happy with him.”

Barca are in talks with Garcia’s camp over a contract extension (Ricardo Larreina/Europa Press via Getty Images)

Barca suffered two damaging defeats before the international break, against PSG in the Champions League and Sevilla in La Liga, in which Flick’s radical high line appeared to be unlocked by their opponents. Now, they face Garcia’s old club, Girona, on Saturday.

Flick’s team appear to be missing Inigo Martinez, their centre-back and former leader who left for Saudi Pro League side Al Nassr this summer, while they have nine players out injured, seven of whom are starters. In an interview with Sport this week, Garcia said he was becoming “more and more” of a leader following Martinez’s exit — and Flick’s side will need all of his skills in that department as they look to return to form before El Clasico.

Garcia was also asked in that interview whether he felt he had shut critics up with his recent performances.

“I knew my potential and the people around me did, too,” he said. “In the beginning, I was labelled as someone without patience. It’s part of the world today, of social media, judging without seeing what there is. I didn’t take it as something personal because it happens to other players. I knew I had to concentrate on myself, because I knew my potential.”

After showing plenty of patience, that potential is finally clear for everyone to see at Barca.

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