A product of Real Madrid's youth system, García was born in Mula, Region of Murcia, and played three La Liga matches for the first team while still a junior, making his debut at age 17 in a 5–0 home win against Levante on 28 November 2004.

The summer of 2006 was a very busy one for García: first, he won the UEFA European Championship with the under-19s,[4] impressing first-team head coach Fabio Capello who recalled him to training sessions.

He played most of Real's pre-season games, including a starting line-up spot in both Ramón de Carranza Trophy fixtures, being deployed in central midfield alongside new purchase Emerson;[5] however, he failed to appear for the main squad in official matches.

In August 2007, in the campaign of García's supposed definitive promotion to the first team, head coach Bernd Schuster would eventually prevent that golden opportunity – as fellow cantera players Rubén de la Red and Esteban Granero also left – and offers began to appear from clubs in the Premier League, including Liverpool, and domestic teams such as Atlético Madrid and Deportivo de La Coruña.

García would finally settle for Osasuna on 31 August, signing for four seasons for a €2.5 million transfer fee as the Navarre side was keen to replace injury-struck midfielder Javad Nekounam (out of action for several months);[6] having first appeared in a 1–1 home draw to Sevilla, where he played one minute, he scored twice in his first six matches, in victories over Levante (4–1)[7] and Villarreal (3–2).

On 29 April 2008, Osasuna officially reported that the former had exercised their purchase option, and the player returned to the Santiago Bernabéu for 2008–09;[9] he made his first league appearance for Real in his second spell during the 7–1 thrashing of Sporting de Gijón on 24 September, coming on as a second-half substitute for Mahamadou Diarra.

His two goals of the campaign came against Sporting CP in the Lisbon derby 1–0 home win,[14] and at Chelsea in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League – in the latter, he netted off a corner kick in the 85th minute to make it 1–1, but ten-men Benfica eventually lost 2–1 and 3–1 on aggregate.