Manchester United have confirmed the departure of Lucia Garcia

Manchester United have confirmed that Lucia Garcia will leave the club after his contract expires at the end of this month.

The 25-year-old Spanish winger joined United in the summer of 2022 from Athletic Bilbao and has made 60 appearances in all competitions, scoring 18 goals.

She scored twice in the 2024 FA Cup final victory over Tottenham Hotspur in May as United’s women’s team won their first major trophy.

“For me, it’s been an incredible two seasons,” Garcia said. “I was so happy to be part of this team and help the team. We are like a family.

“I will miss every part of Manchester United. All my friends, all the team, all the staff, all the workers here.

“But at the end of the day, I have to say goodbye. It’s so hard for me and the only thing I can tell you all is that I love you (from) the bottom of my heart.”

Garcia scored twice in United’s FA Cup final victory (Visionhaus/Getty Images)

Garcia could be one of the first team players to leave Manchester United on a free transfer this summer, with Mary Earps, Katie Zelem and Nikita Parris all out of contract on June 30. The Athletic reported on Tuesday (25 June) that United expect Earps to leave, with the England goalkeeper considering an attractive bid from Paris Saint-Germain.

Alessia Russo and Ona Batlle also left the club after their contracts expired last summer, joining Arsenal and Barcelona respectively.

The uncertainty over key players in the women’s team follows comments made by United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe in an interview with Bloomberg last week.

Asked if United would consider looking for outside investment in the women’s team, as Chelsea have done, Ratcliffe said: “We haven’t got to that level of detail with the women’s team yet.

“We’ve been pretty focused on how we solve first-team problems in that environment, and that’s been pretty full-time for the first six months.”

Goalkeeper Mary Earps could leave United as a free agent this summer (Lewis Storey/Getty Images)

The Athletic reported that Manchester United’s men’s team are to use the women’s first team building amid renovations taking place at Carrington in the 2024-25 season, in a move that will require the women’s team to use portable booths when the schedule is overdue.

Garcia played an important role as United finished second in the Women’s Super League during her debut season, securing Champions League qualification for the first time, with the Spain international scoring eight goals in 20 WSL appearances.

United finished fifth in the WSL last season, their lowest finish in the table since promotion in 2019.

They won the FA Cup for the first time with a 4-0 win over Tottenham in the final. Garcia started at Wembley and scored her side’s third and fourth goals.

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(Visionhaus/Getty Images)