FC Barcelona obeyed Lionel Messi's demands: the first signing of 2021 is the new Gerard Pique

When the new board took over FC Barcelona after Josep Bartomeu left, they knew they had to keep Lionel Messi happy to make him stay at the club. With Gerard Pique out because of an injury, the Argentinian requested a new defender so the squad did not lose quality, And the agreement was reached. 

After the failed experiments where Samuel Umtiti has never been fit again, the young player Oscar Mingueza who is still settling and Ronald Araujo that has not been performing well, an urgent solution was needed to partner Clement Lenglet as a center back. And Eric Garcia was the appointed one.

The young defender will not extend his contract with Manchester City and will come back to FC Barcelona, where he played for the youth teams. He made his international senior debut not too long ago and established himself as a key defender for the Citizens. The only thing unsure is when he will join the Blaugranas, whether in January or July.

Garcia joins a long list of players who were once rejected at the youth teams but were signed for the first team after succeeding somewhere else. Pique himself, Cesc Fabregas, Jordi Alba and Aleix Vidal have been through that, and the club failed to sign Hector Bellerin and Dani Olmo.