The striker, who'd enjoyed a stellar season with Real's B team, Castilla, scoring 25 goals in 36 games, was given a place in Los Blancos' Club World Cup squad.
Top scorer at the Club World Cup
Perhaps not expecting the trip to be anything other than a learning curve, the 21-year-old certainly seized the opportunities he'd been given by Xabi Alonso.
Two goals in the group stage against RB Salzburg and Al Hilal, as well as an assist in the game against Pachuca, put his name up in lights.
The winner against Juventus in the Round of 16 fixture and another goal in the quarter-final win over Dortmund further strengthened his claims to be included in the first-team squad for the 2025/26 campaign.
Whilst he was given the green light to make the leap into the senior set-up, he's done little to make Alonso's life difficult in terms of team selection.
Fifth choice in the first team?
Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior are arguably the first-choice pairing up front; however, Alonso also needs to be able to give minutes to the likes of Brahim Diaz and Endrick, too.
Therefore, unless Garcia can come up with the goods in front of goal, his future with the Santiago Bernabeu outfit is destined to be spent sat on the sidelines. Something he's done more often than not already in 25/26.
Seven games in this season's LaLiga, albeit never playing anywhere close to 90 minutes, have produced no goals or assists. In fact, his total time on the pitch across those seven matches amounts to just 96 minutes or just over one total game.
One assist in two Champions League appearances is all he has to his name.
Regular matches needed
Whilst it's accepted that he still has a long, long way to go in hopefully what will be a very successful career at the top level, Garcia clearly does need to be playing matches regularly.
To that end, it's believed that a number of clubs are circling in order to further a potential loan signing in the January window.
One of those interested parties is believed to be Brighton, who have form when it comes to getting the best out of young players.
In an environment that is clearly geared to playing football in the right manner, the striker could well find that his skillset is perfectly at home under Fabian Hurzeler.
Just one header on target
He would need to find his shooting boots from somewhere, of course. In those seven matches, Garcia has only managed one header in total, albeit on target, and no shots.
There have been no fast breaks made by the player, just four touches made in the opposition box, and only 51 total touches of the ball.
38 of those touches were passes, of which 34 were completed, at least giving Garcia a more than acceptable pass accuracy of 89.5% in this season's LaLiga.
Given that the Seagulls enjoy keeping possession where possible, this facet of the striker's game should be perfectly complementary.
It's also worth pointing out that Garcia at least managed to carve out two chances in the 96 minutes played in 25/26, and also contested nine one-on-one duels, seven of which he won, for a superb 77.8% success rating.
Four aerial duels won from six contested and three separate ball recoveries also indicate the youngster is willing to put a shift in, which is an element of his all-round game which shouldn't be overlooked.
Arguably, the goals will come when he regains the confidence of his coach, or if he accedes to a loan switch to kick-start his career at the elite level.
Could Garcia stay at Real Madrid?
Brighton, or any other clubs, might find it difficult to prise him from the Spanish capital, mind you.
"My only option has always been to stay at Real Madrid," Garcia was recently quoted as saying. "For me, it's a dream to be part of the first team. And for now, I'm very happy and content with the decision I made.
"We’re talking about the best club in the world, and the competition is going to be fierce, because the best in the world are always here.
"But for me, having spent so many years in the youth academy and having been a Real Madrid fan since I was a kid, it’s a true dream to be part of the first team, and I don’t regret a single thing."
Such loyalty is laudable, of course, but with him having made so little impact since those quotes were published, it will be interesting to see how much longer he intends to be a bit-part player at Real if the status quo doesn't change anytime soon.
