Eric García

Seems to me like he could be better at CDM than CB but time will tell. I doubt he will be the new Pique, same path though:

La Masia > Manchester > Barca

He wont work at CDM and I will be very surprised if he works at CB. He is slow, weak, gets bullied easily and is atrocious positionally.

Truth be told I have seen him play only for a couple of minutes. So far GL has been mightily critical of the guy. In fairness he's only 20, so I will wait to pass final judgement. Worst case he could be a decent bench option but I hope nobody at the club expects him to be a starter from next season onwards.

I'm not a fan of Araujo or Mingueza either though.

I dont have an overall opinion on him as yet. My assumption is he can challenge Mingueza for a place in the team, but there will be some desire to put out a La Masia backline featuring Mingueza, Garcia, Araujo/Pique and Alba, just for the sake of novelty.

What I will say though, its always a little worrying when you see 1.70m Aguero built like a tank (by football standards) and the next day your new CB looks like he could be tossed aside by a strong enough gust of wind.

Some stats I came across. Not sure what to read into it really but thought id post.

Number of times dribbled past per 90 minutes.

Pique - 0.3
Araujo - 0.12
Mingueza - 1.09
Lenglet - 0.44
Eric Garcia - 1.63
Umtiti - 0.28
Ramos - 0.56
Varane - 0.3
Savic - 0.4
Felipe - 0.31
Kounde - 0.39
Diego Carlos - 0.32
Dias - 0.54
Fonte - 0.28
Marquinhos - 0.76
Laporte - 0.4

Cant comment on all but for us not really surprising. The Pique number is extremely misleading. He knows he will get burnt so he keeps backing off and off; thereby conceding position.. Hard to get dribbled if he does that.
Araujo is not surprising for the right reasons. Not may players who can dribblet him. Mingueza also not surprising. he is rash (especially early in the season) and jumps in, often late. Smart dribblers will beat him since he is rash. But with experience and the right coaching, he can be hard to dribble against.

Eric Garcia number is worrying. The eye test confirms he is bad but I didnt realize he was that bad. Marquinhos is also surprising. Thought he would be better than that.

Style of play is important for sure.

Marqinhos and PSG obviously play higher on the field than Savic and Atleti. So the chances of getting in those kinds of duels is increased, plus just going by the usual profile, I would predict France have more dangerous, quick dribblers than La Liga.

Mingueza I think is excusable, especially as those minutes include playing at rightback where you will have more confrontations.

Agree about Pique. He refuses to engage because of his qualities.

Garcia is worrying indeed. Especially when you compare to Laporte.

I still dont know if he is good or bad, but I can say for sure when he left the pitch and Pau Torres came on, it wasnt a pretty sight.

I think its also true Croatia piled on far more pressure and Torres and Laporte were getting dominating in duels, but I doubt Garcia would have fared any better.

Called up for Spain. No idea why he is rated so highly. Clearly Enrique rates him very highly. Is the CB situation that bad for Spain? Eric Garcia is the best Spain has to offer?
And it's not just Enrique. Koeman dropped him straight into the starting 11. I just don't see it with him. Decent on the ball but physique of a child. Any decent pacy forward will take him to the cleaners.

Theres better defenders in Segunda. He must have good contacts in the NT, maybe hes a distant cousin of Lucho? But then again Pep also praised him and I don't know on what basis, he's an absolute trashbag, drivel, worst CB  ever seen.

That being said maybe thats too harsh since his grandfather passed away some time before the game but he really seems too frail for a CB. Inaki has always played like prime Eto'o against us but he cant really handle any defending. The one good thing he's sort of good at is passing, I guess. Barca B material.

I dont think he is as bad as suggested. I can understand the call up, as you saw in the Euro's or the La Real game, certain games he will do well in. Those teams who dont have a physical forward, he will defend adequately enough to justify his ball playing ability. He is good with the ball, I can see he has spent some time in midfield at some point.

Yeah, he is good with the ball. But not like he is Van Dijk or Hummels or a Rafa Marquez.
The lack of physique is a distinct issue especially with Busquets in front of you for club and country.
Lenglet is a better passer imo. Played a part in the goal against Getafe and had more good passes. Also, a better physical presence than Garcia.
Now if only Araujo could pass like Marquez, we would have our own Van Dijk.

Agree, he doesn't have that kind of range. Really I should say he is very comfortable under high pressure and is a good short to mid range passer along the ground.

Araujo doesnt have those qualities true, though he did make a great long pass against Getafe which wasnt capitalized on.

Pep Guardiola 'warned' Barcelona about transfer flop Eric Garcia that's left Ronald Koeman red-faced #ManCity #PremierLeague https://t.co/RORZWXAJPz via @NewsNowUK

— Gabriel (@Doozy_45) October 2, 2021

Apparently Pep said E.Garcia:
- had little experience of playing on the biggest stages
-could be a defensive liability
-shouldn't be a starter


The logical thing would be to not sign him but Barca did, and made him a starter