Playing alongside ‘best in the world’ Messi would be special – Eric Garcia

Manchester City defender Eric Garcia says it would be special to play alongside Lionel Messi.

Garcia was heavily linked last summer with a return to Barcelona, the club he represented at youth levels having been born in the Catalan city. No deal was struck at the time with City boss Pep Guardiola, a former Barcelona man himself, keen to keep hold of the young centre-back. However, Garcia’s contract will be up at the end of the season and there has been no agreement on a new one as of yet, and he has played only 10 times in all competitions for the Premier League leaders this season. As a result, the speculation about his future continues to grow.

The 20-year-old is currently away on international duty with Spain, and appearing in the press conference ahead of his national side’s clash with Greece in the World Cup qualifiers today, (Thursday), he said he was focused on City and Spain at the moment, but he also refused to rule out anything regarding the future, and admitted it would be special to play alongside six-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi.