Barcelona To Sell Four Players To Fund Eric Garcia Signing in January

Barcelona are ready to sell four first-team players in order to raise money to buy Manchester City defender Eric Garcia in January.

Highly-rated 19-year-old Garca was a La Masia graduate before joining City in 2017. However he's now reportedly determined to move back to his boyhood club and is not planning on signing a contract extension at the Etihad.

Barca tried to buy him back this summer but failed, with City apparently demanding €15 million for the player who made his full Spain debut earlier this year.

So, according to a report in Mundo Deportivo, up to four players could be shipped out in order to free up transfer funds and wage budget. Namely: Junior Firpo, Carles Alena, Samuel Umtiti and Martin Braithwaite.

The biggest name there is World Cup winner Umtiti, who Garcia could be seen as coming in to replace. The France centre-back has struggled with injuries during his time at Camp Nou and has not featured in Ronald Koeman's team this season.

Danish attacker Braithwaite, a star at Leganes, always seemed a bizarre signing for a club of Barcelona's size (no offence Martin) so it's no surprise that he's on the list.

Carles Alena has been linked with a move to Tottenham, as the 22-year-old midfielder has struggled to get game time after returning from a lengthy loan spell at Real Betis last season.

Left-back Junior Firpo, himself signed from Real Betis in 2019 for €18 million, is also yet to play a minute of La Liga football this season.

Brutally, all four players could be seen as highly expendable right now, so it's no surprise Barcelona are willing to listen to offers.

Especially if it helps to secure the signature of Garcia, who potentially has a big upside given his youth and ability.

As keen as the player reportedly is to return to Barca, he's in the last year of his City contract. The Catalan club will not want to wait that long, then find themselves in a bidding war with other sides in order to snap Garcia up on a free transfer, so the aim is to get a January transfer lined up ASAP.

All imagery: PA Images

Topics: Manchester City, Football News, Football, Eric Garcia, Barcelona, Samuel Umtiti, Martin Braithwaite, Transfer news, La Liga

Alex Reid

Alex Reid is a writer at SPORTbible who’s previously strung words together for FourFourTwo, Boxing News, The Guardian and, yes, Cruise International (it’s about big ships, not Tom). Interests range from football and boxing to real sports like WWE and darts. He is not a cage fighter.

@otheralexreid