City’s rising academy star Garcia earns high praise after cup win

ONE of City’s most highly-rated teenage stars, Eric Garcia, has earned high praise from his youth team manager, and even drawn comparisons to a firstteam star, after a great performance in the FA Youth Cup.

Garcia, who captains the Under-18s side, was authoritative at the back and scored a fine header to put City ahead at the break as they faced Bournemouth in the tournament’s quarter-finals on Tuesday night.

The Blues ran out 4-1 winners thanks to additional goals from Felix Nmecha, Fisayo DeleBashiru and Ben Knight as they booked their place in the semi-finals at the Vitality Stadium where they face West Brom. But it was Garcia (pictured) who came in for the highest praise from Under-18s manager Gareth Taylor.

“I’m really pleased, I thought that there were some really good elements to our all-round play,” Taylor said on the emphatic victory.

“It also helps when you have good lads in your team – lads like our captain, Eric, who was tremendous all night. His attitude is first class.”

Taylor then compared Garcia, who has had his own taste of first-team action this year after playing 270 minutes in the Carabao Cup, to someone who is rapidly making a name for himself in the City first-team.

“I heard the manager (Pep Guardiola) talk about Oleksandr Zinchenko in his press conference on Tuesday and praising his attitude.

“In the same way, we’ve got a guy in Eric who has played three Carabao Cup games this season and when he plays our games for the Under 18s it’s like he’s playing a first-team game.”

Taylor’s praise for the 18-year-old Spaniard didn’t stop there, either. He said: “He’s a tremendous leader and that inspires everyone else.”