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Pep Guardiola has not given up hope of keeping Eric Garcia at Manchester City beyond his current contract.
The Spanish defender was thought to be close to signing a new contract last season, but was won over by former club Barcelona and informed the Blues when the players returned after the restart that he did not want to stay in Manchester.
City were open to selling him but never felt they got the reasonable offer from Barcelona they wanted in the summer and chose to stay with the 19-year-old for the final year of his contract.
With Nathan Ake and Aymeric Laporte ruled out, Garcia lined up alongside Ruben Dias for the Champions League game with Porto, ahead of John Stones and Taylor Harwood-Bellis, who were on the bench.
Guardiola cited the player’s stability as why he chose Garcia over the others, and also raised hopes that he may still tempt him to change his mind on a return to Camp Nou.
“I am very happy. I know he wanted to leave, but he is going to stay and maybe we can seduce him this year to extend the contract with us,” Guardiola said. “He is a guy who is very stable in many things and we are very happy.”
Garcia could be in line for more games after Fernandinho joined the Blues’ long injured list. Laporte is expected to return to training on Thursday, but will face him to get in shape for Saturday’s trip to West Ham.
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