MANCHESTER, England (AP) – Manchester City defender Eric Garcia turned down a contract extension offer for the Premier League club.
The 19-year-old headquarters has been linked to a return to the Barcelona men’s club, which he left three years ago.
The Spaniard has played 19 games for the first team with City this season.
“He told us he doesn’t need to extend his contract with Manchester City,” coach Pep Guardiola said Thursday. “He’s got a year left, and after that he doesn’t need to make it any bigger. We need him but he doesn’t need it, so I guess he needs to play instead.”
The club hired Nathan Ake from Bournemouth this week, but now it will have to decide whether it makes sense to sell Garcia this summer or threaten to waste it on a loose move next year.
Garcia’s appearance had been an advantage for Guardiola in a complicated situation. The club upgraded former captain Vincent Kompany when he left the club last summer and Aymeric Laporte missed five months of the crusade due to injury.
Guardiola turns out to have no confidence in John Stones’ and Nicolas Otamendi’s partner in central defence, midfielder Fernandinho has deployed as a makeshift central defender during the campaign maximum.