Sporting Kansas City acquired Spanish midfielder Manu Garcia as a Designated Player from Greek side Aris Thessaloniki ahead of the 2025 season. Garcia arrives at Sporting having amassed 21 goals and 40 assists in nearly 300 professional matches, playing in the top divisions of England, France, Netherlands, Spain and Greece.
PROFESSIONAL
Aris Thessaloniki (2022-2024):
Garcia signed for Aris in Super League Greece on a club-record transfer fee in July 2022. He participated in his first European club competition during 2022-23 UEFA Europa Conference League qualifying and bagged his first professional hat-trick in a 3-0 home win over Volos on Jan. 21, 2023. Garcia guided Aris to its second consecutive fifth-place finish in 2023-24 and a run to the 2024 Greek Football Cup Final, where his side suffered a last-minute 1-0 loss to Panathinaikos.
Garcia enjoyed an excellent 2024-25 season at Aris prior to joining Sporting KC. He had a goal and an assist to spearhead a 2-1 victory over Greek juggernaut Olympiacos on Sept. 21 and scored a dramatic winner eight days later to secure a 1-0 away win at reigning league champion PAOK Salonika. The playmaker delivered another goal and assist to spark a 2-0 triumph against Kallithea on Oct. 20 and notched his fourth goal of the year at Panetolikos on Nov. 9.
Alaves (2021-2022):
Garcia went on loan to La Liga’s Alaves in 2021-22 where he made 26 appearances and tallied two assists across all competitions.
Sporting Gijon (2019-2021):
In July 2019, Garcia transferred from Man City to Sporting Gijon on a club-record transfer fee. He made 76 appearances for Gijon over the next two seasons, recording four goals and 11 assists.
Alaves/NAC Breda (2016-2018):
After re-signing for Man City, Garcia was loaned to two clubs for the 2016-17 season—newly promoted Spanish La Liga side Alaves and Dutch outfit NAC Breda. He played an instrumental role in NAC’s promotion to the top-flight Eredivisie—tallying two goals and nine assists in half a season—and continued his loan spell at the Dutch club for 2017-18, appearing in all 34 league matches.
Manchester City (2014-2016):
Garcia joined the academy of Manchester City as a 16-year-old in early 2014. He rose from the U-18 to the U-21 ranks before landing his first-team debut on Sept. 22, 2015, replacing Sergio Aguero in a League Cup victory at Sunderland. Garcia scored his first Man City goal the following month to seal another League Cup win over Crystal Palace, and received a winner’s medal months later as City were crowned tournament champions. He earned his English Premier League debut on March 5, 2016, replacing Yaya Toure in midfield.
YOUTH
Born in Oviedo, Spain, Garcia developed as a youth at Astur CF and Sporting Gijon prior to joining the academy of European powerhouse Manchester City as a 16-year-old in early 2014.
INTERNATIONAL
As a youth international, Garcia first represented Spain at the U-16 level in September 2013. He gained U-17 experience in 2015 and the following year scored for the Spain U-19s to cement a 2-0 win over a French team led by Kylian Mbappe. In March 2017, Garcia participated in the qualifying rounds of the 2017 UEFA Under-19 Championship.
Garcia had a leading role in Spain’s run to the 2021 UEFA Under-21 Championship semifinals. After playing four matches in the qualifying round from 2019 to 2020, he started in four of his five tournament appearances as Spain finished atop its group and claimed a 2-1 extra-time win over Croatia in the quarterfinals. After starting in a 1-0 semifinal loss to Portugal on June 3, Garcia received his first call to Spain’s senior national team and started in a 4-0 home triumph against Lithuania on June 8 in Leganes.
