Manchester City confirmed that it has defeated Spanish giant Barcelona in the race to sign Benjamin Garre, the grandson of Oscar Garre who won the World Cup back in 1986.
Pep Guardiola is excited to sign the very talented player who has been making waves. The Spanish tactician signed the rising youngster from Velez Sarsfield, according to reports from Goal.
Barcelona was really keen on landing the player especially as Garre is considered one of the best players of his generation in Argentina. His father Oscar Garre is a former defender who was part of the national team of Argentina when they lifted the 1986 World Cup. Since the player was not under contract, Man City would pay only minimal compensation. The young player, who has spent time in England with Manchester United, excitedly said: “I was taken to see the club and train. Velez, as always, respected me and gave me the opportunity to travel. But I could not say if I will one day join [United] because this is something that my family is in charge of.”
Barcelona have also lost out on signing some other players this summer. One of their defenders Dani Alves left to join Italian champions Juventus recently. Alves will be plying his trade in Turin in the coming campaign but his leave wasn’t celebrated as much, especially as he was a legend.
He had his last contract extended by a year in the last minute and when he left he claimed he did because playing in La Liga for the Catalan club was too easy.
Juventus wanted to do a double swoop of Alves and Javier Mascherano but have decided to abandon the idea of landing Mascherano this summer. Juve director Guiseppe Marotta told La Gazzetta dello Sport that the Catalan giant were even not likely to sell Mascherano after the manager Luis Enrique assured him of his place in the team, despite having two years left. Marotta said he was happy with the two players he got. He said: “We have made two important signings with Miralem Pjanic and Dani Alves as we worked on the market and started building the team for next season.