24 - Eric García

Messi983

Senior Member
Instead I'd counter what makes a keyboard warrior claiming to be a fan know more than our greatest coaches at Barca? Yes, I am sure you know something the rest of us don't :rolleyes:

It's posts like these that embarrass yourself - stay in your lane and enjoy the game/Barca rather than pretend you know about what is required of players at Barca

Lol, what a bitter response. So it's just your usual blind faith in La Masia coaches and Pep who were absolutely never wrong about any player. Sorry that I'm not totally convinced by what I've seen so far from Eric in senior football to believe he could become a longterm starting CB (which we need) for a competitive Barca team (which was my point about him if you've missed that as I've said I think he could be a good squad player) and your response did nothing to get my doubts about him go away either.

His biggest strength (that all La Masia cultists are always talking about) besides his passings skills is that he's supposed to be a leader because he was a captain in youth categories. But it's totally different leading a bunch of kids around the same age (and not knowing what money, fame, etc. are yet) than coming into the first team locker room surrounded by older, (mostly) overpaid and/or underperforming veterans, earning their trust and not letting the pressure get to you. Great, if he'll turn out a capable leader of our defense and the team because we all know we need some strong personalities desperately. If that happens I'll have no problems to admit that you and others who always believed in Garcia were right all the time.

But at this point I'm sceptical if he can become all that. And again, I don't "hate" him, I'm ok signing him for free and I'll give him a chance (like I did with every player we've ever signed; can you say the same though?) to prove me wrong but I just can't have a blind faith in someone just because he was hyped coming through La Masia ranks. Yes, we've produced some good to great players but the list of once highly rated kids who've never made it is much much longer. And I'm sure you were amongst those who believed players like Bojan or Samper would succeed as well and then probably blamed "outside factors" (bad luck, coaches etc.) for them not making it instead of admitting they were just never as good as believed in first place.

And to be clear again, I want Eric to succeed here. I won't root for him to flop just so I could say in a year or two I was right for doubting him. I always want players who I'm a "fan" of/support before they sign with us to prove me right. And I always want those who I have my doubts about to prove me wrong and exceed my expectations. Anything else would be stupid as it wouldn't be the best for the club and I only want what's the best for Barca.
 

serghei

Senior Member
He's free, young, appears healthy, and will probably not be getting a big salary. This makes him twice as good as the current Umtiti.
 

Porque

Senior Member
I don't think we can ask for more from a free signing really. Premier League experience, International experience with Spain, Captain through the youth categories and still just 20 years old.

Take for example the B team has a similar style talent in Arnau Comas. I just looked it up and Comas is almost a full year older than Eric Garcia. It can't be emphasised how much of a potential asset Eric Garcia's experience at his age is.

I read before if he was called Ericinho or something and if he was Brazilian that we would not consider him. Well maybe not, because he would hold a non-eu spot. But if he was called Ericotextia and was 4th option at City and starting for Spain in defence we would probably want to sign him. I can't believe we are holding it against him that he is ex La Masia and not starting for City, ignoring he is a current international and was playing for City when his long term status was not in dispute.

Last year I posted that we should go for Rudiger but was met with replies that he doesn't start for Chelsea and is poor. Now he is starting for Chelsea and had a good season, I wonder if more would be interested. We fans can be fickle sometimes.
 

Givenchy

Senior Member
only reason we bought this guy is la masia, more dna bullshit. "pep likes him so he must be good" when will Barca finally move on and join the rest of football? even Pep has evolved
 

Porque

Senior Member
[MENTION=22241]Porque[/MENTION] Im not holding it against him that he is from La Masia but rather that its one of biggest reason we are after him. I mean there is a reason we seem to be only one after him.

Here are some great CB's on top my head : Van Dijk, Marquinhos, Ramos, Ruben, Militao etc..

All these have a few things in similar in that they are physical and are fast or at least possess one of those qualities which are crucial in modern football.

Now lets look at the lawn chairs we have :pique, Lenglet, Araujo (potential but injury prone). And now you want to add another weak and slow defender to the mix ?

I get that. And if we had 70m just to budget on a CB like City did with Ruben Dias I wouldn't advocate Eric Garcia but that is not the reality we are in. Although in that scenario Eric Garcia is still a good opportunity of the market.

I'd wager we seem to be the only one after him is because for over a year it has been obvious he wants to return to Barcelona. Not because no other club in European football are interested.

Here is who's contracts are expiring this Summer and who are defenders. Apart from Alaba, it is the best option on the list.

https://www.transfermarkt.com/trans..._id=alle&altersklasse=alle&land_id=0&yt0=Show

We don't have alot of other options. Let's see what we can actually spend this Summer in transfer fees and what swaps we manage to pull off.
 

HanDW

Active member
He has two functional knees and an actual brain, those two things put him above Umtiti and Lenglet respectively. For free he's good enough to be a backup, still, another most dominant CB is necessary to be a starter.
 

FC433

New member
Not against getting him, but I wonder what are we going to do with all the CBs that we have got? I hope we loan a couple of them to Betis.
 

malvolio

Senior Member
Not against getting him, but I wonder what are we going to do with all the CBs that we have got? I hope we loan a couple of them to Betis.

?
Pique - old and injured lately
Araujo - young and injured lately
Umtiti - dead
Lenglet - bench level at best
Mingueza - bum

Right now its hard to even name the starting CBs for next season
 
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xxxxxx

Senior Member
It's not a risky signing, but he's probably going to struggle next season due to the lack of playing time. He can potentially become good, but we might not see that for a few years.

But he's free and will be a lower salary, so can't complain.
 

FC433

New member
?
Pique - old and injured lately
Araujo - young and injured lately
Umtiti - dead
Lenglet - bench level at best
Mingueza - bum

Right is hard to even name the starting CBs for next season
Pique, Umtiti, Lenglet, Arajuo, Mingueza, Todibo, and potentially Garcia. Almost all of them are the same when it comes to their performance/ profiles. Then we have got a bunch more (also almost the same) such as Comas, Igor, Mingo, Marmol (my favourite), and Marsa (like him more as a LB).

I would love to see us going after Koulibaly.
 

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