Pep Guardiola confirms defender is joining Barcelona

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has confirmed that Eric Garcia will join Barcelona when his contract with the club expires in June.

The Spaniard has hardly played for the Cityzens this term with Ruben Dias, John Stones and Aymeric Laporte ahead of him in the pecking order.

He has been regularly linked with a return to the Camp Nou and Guardiola has confirmed that the centre-back will join the Blaugrana this summer.

He told: "He’s going to play in Barcelona and that is not an average player - he is a top player. He was not selected in the last two games and it broke my heart."

The 19-year-old spent nine years developing in the La Masia academy before joining the Cityzens' youth setup in the summer of 2017.

Over the past three years, he has made 32 appearances for the club, but he has never established himself as a regular starter.

The Cityzens had the option to sell Garcia in January, but they turned down the chance as Guardiola wanted sufficient defensive cover.

Nathan Ake has been out injured with a hamstring problem for the past few months, but he should return to action in the near future.