Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has revealed that he has reached an agreement to land Eric Garcia from former club Barcelona, but admits that he has yet to see the teenage centre-back up close.
The 16-year-old turned down the offer of a senior contract at Camp Nou last month, leaving him free to depart for pastures new this summer.
City will reportedly pay around £1.3m to Barcelona in training compensation for the Spain Under-17s international, whose departure has left the Catalan club angry as they rated him highly.
"I have good reports about him," Guardiola told TV3. "I haven't been lucky enough to see him play for myself yet, but people spoke very highly about him and we had the chance to sign him. He wanted to take this step in his career and we gave him the opportunity to do so."
Barca were also dealt a blow when losing Jordi Mboula to AS Monaco last month after a release clause in his contract was activated.
Written by
Daniel Lewis
Daniel Lewis
