On-loan Barcelona star confirms Xavi didn’t want him to leave | OneFootball

A member of the Barcelona loan army has on Wednesday revealed that head coach Xavi was in favour of him staying put with the club last summer.

The player in question? Eric García.

Stopper García, for his part, has of course enjoyed a fine campaign to date.

After finding himself as the odd man out in the defensive ranks of the aforementioned Barcelona last summer, the 23-year-old went on to link up with fellow La Liga outfit Girona.

And García has since gone on to provide Spanish football fans with a timely reminder of exactly why Barca sought out his signature in the first place, shining at the heart of Girona’s backline.

All told, the former Manchester City man has featured from the off in 25 of the Blanquivermells’ league outings, playing a pivotal role in, for much of the term, a shock push for the title.

With his current terms at the Estadi Montilivi set to come to an end in a matter of months, the subject of his future beyond the summer, in turn, was today put to García himself.

And speaking in an interview with Diario Sport, the defender went on to confirm that, upon the season’s close, he will indeed return to his parent club:

“I’m going to return to Barça. I have a contract, I will return when the season ends and we will talk to the club to see what is there.

“It will depend on the club. I know that I have two more years on my contract and that I have to return. We haven’t talked yet, we’ll see,” he added.

From here, García also hinted that he could yet feature in the plans of Barcelona for next season, in revealing that headmaster Xavi was in fact eager for him to stay put last summer:

“That’s right, it happened on the last day due to a ‘fair play’ issue and I was clear that if I left, it would be to go to Girona.”

Conor Laird | GSFN