{"id":44303,"date":"2026-02-20T09:20:26","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T03:50:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/?p=44303"},"modified":"2026-02-20T09:20:26","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T03:50:26","slug":"eric-garcia-admits-barcelona-exit-was-close-as-these-two-things-changed-his-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/football\/la-liga\/eric-garcia-admits-barcelona-exit-was-close-as-these-two-things-changed-his-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Eric Garcia admits Barcelona exit was close as these two things changed his future"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Barcelona defender Eric Garcia has delivered a candid revelation about how close he came to leaving the club, confirming that a transfer away from Camp Nou was almost inevitable before a dramatic change of heart reshaped his future.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking in comments shared by Fabrizio Romano, Garcia admitted that there was a real moment when he believed his Barcelona journey was over. Serie A side Como had emerged as a serious destination, and negotiations were progressing as the defender struggled for consistent opportunities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes, it\u2019s true\u2026 there was a moment when it seemed I would leave for Como,\u201d Garcia revealed. However, everything shifted after one decisive night in Europe. The turning point came during Barcelona\u2019s clash against Benfica, a match that reignited his confidence and altered the club\u2019s internal perception of his role.<\/p>\n<p>More importantly, a crucial conversation with new head coach Hansi Flick proved to be the defining factor. Flick reportedly outlined a clearer tactical plan for Garcia and reassured him about his importance in the squad\u2019s rebuild. That dialogue convinced the defender that staying at Barcelona was not just an emotional choice, but a professional one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Barcelona defender Eric Garcia has delivered a candid revelation about how close he came to leaving the club, confirming that\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":202,"featured_media":44304,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4651],"tags":[661,2521,3686,2938,4325,1823,3796,2573,564,3919,4722],"class_list":["post-44303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-la-liga","tag-barcelona","tag-benfica","tag-david-ornstein","tag-defender","tag-eric-garcia","tag-fabrizio-romano","tag-football","tag-football-transfers","tag-hansi-flick","tag-la-liga","tag-transfer-news"],"reading_time":"1 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/202"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44303"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44305,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44303\/revisions\/44305"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}