How are Manchester City Players Faring at Girona?
By David Crook
Much to the continued annoyance of La Liga, Manchester City have continued to develop their relationship with Girona since they joined the City Football Group in 2017
The City Football Group acquired a significant share in Girona back in 2017 and the club was brought into the CFG stable during its first campaign in the La Liga – the Spanish top division. This close relationship and investment helped Girona to secure their La Liga position in their first year and achieve some remarkable results along the way, including a 2:1 win over reigning European Champions Real Madrid.
The close relationship between CFG and Girona is also supported by the fact the equal shareholder in Girona is Pere Guardiola, football agent and brother of the Manchester City manager. The ongoing close relationship has allowed Manchester City to send some of their young players towards Girona on loan where they get to play football at the very highest level to aid their development.
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The whole notion of the ownership of Girona and the nature of the loan deals has lead to a number of minor squabbles with La Liga and probably underpins their loud complaints about the operation of Financial Fair Play by UEFA. Nevertheless there are three Manchester City players who are on loan at Girona for the current season, two of whom have helped Girona reach the quarter finals of the Copa Del Rey after knocking out Athletico Madrid!
Aleix Garcia is a 21 year old midfielder who is under contract at Manchester City until 30 June 2020. He is in his second season on loan at Girona but has played a number of times for the City first team back in 2016/17 – even scoring a goal! This season Garcia has played a total of 20 games for Girona, scoring 1 goal and gaining a total of 4 assists.
Douglas Luiz is a 20 year old Brazilian defensive midfielder. Pep Guardiola wanted to keep Luiz this year at Manchester City as part of the first team squad but he was rejected for a work permit so went on loan. At Girona he has played a solid 15 games in defensive midfield and given injuries to Fernandinho may well have gained a similar number of first team appearances at City.
The final young player on loan is Patrick Roberts. Roberts is a 21 year old winger who has famously been away on loan ever since joining City, spending two years at Celtic. Roberts has appeared 12 times for Girona and has notched up 1 La Liga assist but his involvement has been curtailed by injuries. He has not played since early December after sustaining a hamstring injury.
The number of appearances and involvement in high quality first team action by these young players at Girona confirms the relationship is good for Manchester City and their player development and is also mutually beneficial for Girona who have access to good quality players at limited ongoing cost.
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Both Garcia and Roberts are playing for their futures in the sense they are in the shop window and if they continue to do well, I would expect both players to move on permanent transfers in the summer. The situation with Luiz would appear to be different and the hope is that he will do enough on the field to secure a work permit for a place in the Manchester City squad.