Sergio Aguero still in Barcelona and will not feature against Real Madrid on Friday, Guardiola confirms
Thursday 6 August 2020 15:19, UK
Pep Guardiola has revealed that Eric Garcia has told Manchester City he does not want to sign a new contract and believes the young defender wants to leave the club.
Spain Under-21 international centre-back Garcia - who is now in the final 12 months of his City deal - has played in eight of the club's 12 games since the restart and was offered an extension.
But ahead of City's Champions League last-16 second leg against Real Madrid on Friday, Guardiola said: "He announced to us that he doesn't want to extend his contract with Manchester City.
"He has one more year and after that, he doesn't want to extend. We want it but he doesn't want to, so I imagine he wants to play in another place."
Garcia's decision to turn down a new City contract comes just days after they signed fellow centre-back Nathan Ake from Bournemouth for £41m.
The Premier League runners-up are embarking on a rebuild after surrendering their title to Liverpool and have already signed Valencia winger Ferran Torres in addition to Ake.
Improving the defence is considered a priority at City this summer and they are keen to add a new left-back and another centre-back, most likely Napoli's Kalidou Koulibaly.
Ahead of Friday's match at the Etihad, Guardiola confirmed that Sergio Aguero would not be fit to help City in their bid to hold on to their first leg advantage over Real.
The Argentine striker has not played since suffering a knee injury in June and underwent surgery in Barcelona.
Guardiola is unsure whether Aguero will be fit to feature in the latter stages of the Champions League - should City get past Real - saying: "He is getting better.
"I spoke with the doctors and everything is like we thought but he is still in Barcelona so I don't know. Hopefully he can come back and start training with us but I don't know."
The summer transfer window will run for 10 weeks from July 27 and close at 11pm on October 5.
A domestic-only window for trades between the Premier League and EFL then runs from October 5 and closes on Friday October 16 at 5pm. Follow all the news and analysis on Sky Sports News and across Sky Sports' digital platforms, including with our dedicated Transfer Centre blog.
