Barcelona Lodge Fresh Bid for Manchester City's Eric García
By Tom Gott
Barcelona have submitted a new bid to Manchester City for centre-back Eric García, but there are conflicting reports over the value of this latest transfer offer.
The 19-year-old has been identified as Barcelona's top defensive target for the summer window, but the Catalan side are reluctant to pay too much as García has just one year remaining on his contract and has already made it clear he does not intend to extend his stay.
Barcelona are hopeful that City will agree to sell now before he leaves for free, and according to the Daily Mail, they have offered to pay £13.6m to take the defender off their hands before Monday's deadline.
There is no mention of whether this bid has been accepted or rejected, but if we head over to Spain, Marca believe that Barcelona's chances of landing García are slim to none.
The two reports differ over the value of Barça's latest bid. Marca seem almost perplexed by the situation, noting that this offer is actually lower than the first one which Barcelona submitted earlier this summer.
Back then, Barça offered €8m up-front with a further €2m in add-ons to take the total value to €10m (£9m), but after that was rejected, the Spanish side have returned with a lower offer... for some reason.
This second bid was just €5m up-front, and the add-ons didn't even take the value past the €10m mark. Believe it or not, City weren't exactly satisfied with that.
Pep Guardiola is looking for closer to £27m to part ways with García this summer, so the belief is that this deal is not going to happen. Barça are prepared to wait a year and bag the defender on a free.
City are still hopeful of convincing García to stay at the Etihad, although the fact that he has not made three of City's five matchday squads so far this season probably isn't going to help their cause.
Guardiola gave a debut to new signing Rúben Dias in City's 1-1 draw with Leeds United on Sunday, with fellow new signing Nathan Aké the preferred reserve on the bench.