The transfer deadline day was not short of action at FC Barcelona as they executed several operations be it incomings, outgoings, or player registrations.
Joao Felix and Joao Cancelo came into the club while Ansu Fati and Clement Lenglet completed their loan moves to the Premier League.
Beyond that, there were a couple more late exits in the form of Eric Garcia and Ez Abde, both players Xavi wanted to retain.
More details regarding the departure of Eric and Abde have now emerged, giving an insight into how the Catalans’ plans were altered because of one of the stars’ stances.
Xavi wanted Eric to stay
It is no secret that Xavi was not prepared to sanction Eric Garcia’s exit and now RAC1 is reporting that despite the player’s insistence on leaving, the manager had convinced him to stay put.
But, if the 22-year-old had stayed, Barcelona would not have been able to register Inigo Martinez, who had been waiting for his registration to take place since arriving in July.
The only way that the La Liga champions could register Martinez and keep hold of Garcia as well would have been if they were able to offload Abde for a bigger fee on the deadline day.
Abde refused to join Premier League club
But, as it would turn out, Abde was firm on his stance of joining Real Betis even though there were other clubs who were willing to offer Barcelona a bigger sum for him.
Indeed, the report states that a team from the Premier League was offering €20 million to the Catalans for the 21-year-old winger.
However, he refused that move, and joined Real Betis in a deal worth only €7.5 million for 50% of his rights.
This move upset Barcelona’s plans and as a result, they were forced to let go of Garcia so that Martinez could be registered by the club.
