3 Interesting Facts about Eric Garcia

DBasia.news –  A crisis of central defender has fallen to the two times defending Premier League champions, Manchester City, this season. Aymeric Laporte must be sidelined until half of the 2019-20 season.

While John Stones is still not free from injury. Stones is expected to appear within the next month. Currently only Nicolas Otamendi is the most experienced central defender who is able to perform.

The manager, Pep Guardiola, has various options to overcome this problem. One of them is by giving the young defender, Eric Garcia, an opportunity. Although not as famous as other young players, the 18-year-old defender is considered to have the ability to appear in the main squad.

Here are three things you need to know from the 18-year-old Manchester City defender, Eric Garcia.

1. Admired by Guardiola

Eric Garcia was brought in by Manchester City in the summer of 2017 from Barcelona. Garcia is a graduate of the La Masia academy. No wonder Guardiola knows the talents Garcia has.

“Eric Garcia is 17 or 18 years old, but he plays like he’s 24 or 25 years old,” Pep Guardiola said as quoted by the official website of Manchester City at the end of last year.

2. Prospective Successor for Vincent Kompany

Since his arrival, Eric Garcia has often been touted as the young player who will replace Vincent Kompany in the future. Although it cannot be compared directly, there are several things that has made him juxtaposed with Kompany.

Garcia has a posture similar to Kompany. Beyond the physical side, Garcia is considered to have similarities in terms of calmness on the field. Together with the young team, Garcia appeared very maturely and smart in carrying the game.

3. Left Barcelona because of Carles Puyol

In 2017, the Barcelona camp was upset by legend Carles Puyol. As Puyol is the agent who represented Garcia when leaving Barcelona.

At that time Garcia was 16 years old and was said to be one of the players who had great potential to penetrate the main squad in the future. However, Garcia finally moved to Man City and Puyol was accused to be the cause.