Candidates pass Koeman and Eric Garcia won't come until June

Green light for Eric García to be a Barça player … in June. As announced by As on December 11, the plan drawn up by Barça's technical secretary, Ramón Planes, and the club's CEO, Óscar Grau, has been fulfilled. Planes and Grau wanted to secure the signing of the 21-year-old Manchester City center-back as a project player, although he could not come in January due to the club's dramatic financial situation. Yesterday, the candidates gave the go-ahead for Carles Tusquets, president of the Management Commission, to close their signing with a view to next summer. Eric García ends his contract with the citizens on June 30 and, as Pep Guardiola himself has admitted, he has decided not to continue in Manchester.

But Ronald Koeman aspired to much more than securing Eric Garcia by June. The Dutch coach appeared yesterday at the Camp Nou offices and joined the meeting set between the president of the Management Commission, Carles Tusquets, and the candidates for the president, Joan Laporta, Víctor Font and Toni Freixa. Koeman drew up a sketch about the reality of the workforce today and argued the need to close dates for the month of January. All for the good of the sports health of the entity, but also the economic one. For Barça, not finishing in the top four in LaLiga would mean a phenomenal financial disaster that would have nothing to do with the disbursement that the signings of Eric García and Depay would entail between now and June. But no one heard him. The only thing that started was the OK to close the signing of Eric García, but with a view to summer. And who knows what the future of Koeman will be next June. The Dutch did not serve the explanations of the candidates, but had to accept them. “If there are no signings, we will continue with what we have,” he had said hours before in the press room as he had repeated on other days.

Upon leaving the meeting, Joan Laporta insisted that it was not “feasible” for Eric García to arrive in January and that he must wait until the end of the season. Víctor Font, however, wanted to leave a door open to incorporation if the circumstances were easier.

The next step on the Manager's roadmap is to close the signing of Eric García and announce it. Possibly next week. Only an unexpected scenario that would respond to a sale could change the panorama and anticipate the arrival of the central defender, who has closed his commitment to Barça since last October but will wait for the moment in Manchester.