Man City starlet Garcia eyes promotion and longer stay at NAC Breda
Heading out on loan can be a daunting prospect for a youngster as they look to start forging their career in football.
Joining a team for a short period and looking to gain some much-needed experience can be a needlessly pressurised situation, but Manchester City have looked to alleviate the strain on their talented prospects. City have a five-year deal with Dutch side NAC Breda, which will see at least four youngsters heading to Holland each season.
Five academy graduates are currently spending time in the Jupiler League in Holland, playing regular first-team football and helping NAC Breda mount a promotion charge.
A key figure in NAC Breda’s battle to make it into the Eredivisie is Spanish teenager Manu Garcia. The Asturian has impressed at City since moving there in 2014 from Sporting Gijon, earning a Premier League debut in March 2016 in a game against Aston Villa, and he can even boast a professional goal in a 5-1 League Cup win over Crystal Palace.
After spending the first half of the season at Alaves in the Spanish top flight, Garcia is lighting up the Dutch second division, where he joined his fellow City team-mates Ashley Smith-Brown, Brandon Barker, James Horsfield and Thomas Agyepong.
“It was my decision," he tells ITV Sport. "I had some other options, but I think it was the best thing for me to come to Breda as the club is really good, it has the partnership with City and for these five months I knew I would have the chance to play. That’s what I needed, to play games and show myself.
“Three or four City lads were here, so I knew them already. They talked to my new team-mates about me so everybody knew me a bit, and that made it easier to cope with.”
The diminutive playmaker is used to operating in a game based on technique and style, so moving to Holland for a period seems like a natural progression for the teenager, especially having come from City’s renowned academy.
“I think Dutch football started tiki-taka in Spain due to Johan Cruyff, so it’s from Holland and here it’s very attacking, possession football, similar to Spain," he adds. "In the Jupiler League sometimes it’s not that playing style, sometimes it’s harder. It’s also good for me, as it helps me improve other parts of my game, too.
“Every country has a bit of a different style. Here is a lot similar to what I was used to in Spain and different to England, but I’m coming from City, a club who like to play, want the ball and have a different style from most of the teams in England, so it’s not very different here.”
Garcia has scored twice in 16 appearances while playing in the pivotal No.10 role for NAC Breda, helping them move up the table, although their promotion push has taken a hit in recent weeks with a run of three games without a win.
“I am enjoying it a lot," he admits. "I’ve been playing the No.10 position, which allows me the freedom to come and receive the ball and play more or less wherever I want to, so it’s a position I like a lot. They know my qualities and they try to get the best out of me.
“The team that is going to go up automatically is quite far ahead of us, so it’s hard to get there. We’re aiming to end up as high up the league so we get an easier draw, but it’s never going to be easy. An easier play-off is what we want so we can do the best out of it and hopefully earn promotion.”
If NAC Breda do earn promotion it will be great news for City, who will already be planning on who to send to the club next season. It would be better for development for them to be in Holland’s top division, playing against a higher standard of opposition, and Garcia would like to be part of any NAC side in the Eredivisie.
“It would be great for City, for all the players coming, and I know the quality of players who come and hopefully if we go up there will be much more players coming to NAC," he explains.
“The first hope is to play for NAC in the Eredivisie because I’m comfortable here. I like the club and I think the club likes me, so I’m happy here and if I play at the highest level in Holland for this club it would be perfect. After that I don’t know, we’ll see.”
The Spaniard keeps a close eye on City, watching every game he can, including the youth team - a side he thinks is the best he's seen since he joined the club, as they prepare to face Chelsea in the FA Youth Cup final.
Garcia is under no illusions about how difficult it is to become a City first-team regular, but he feels he has given a good account of himself since arriving in Breda in January.
“The first point of loan is to show the gaffer you can play at a high level and show yourself at a competitive level, not just under-23s," Garcia says. "The aim for all of us is to try to go back to Manchester and make it in the first team."
At the start of the season, City manager Pep Guardiola offered his compatriot some words of advice and Garcia hopes he’s now proving him right.
“I did pre-season with him and got a few training sessions with him," he adds of Guardiola.
“He told me to go out and play and try to improve my game, mature as a player and think that’s what I’m doing at the moment and getting better every day."
Garcia is doing what Guardiola wanted for him by shining out on loan, but he’s just focused on promotion for now.