García later played professionally in Spain, Israel and elsewhere before moving into coaching, and is now head coach of Jong Ajax.
So when he says Iniesta was different as a child, he is speaking from experience rather than hindsight.
“You could say that he was a very special player,” García told Football Presse. “Even when he was 10 or 12 years old, he was already playing at another level.
“Even when we were playing international games, you could see that he was different. He was already ahead of the other players.”
It is a remarkable thing to recognise in a player so young.
Iniesta had joined Barcelona's academy at 12 after being spotted at Albacete, eventually progressing through La Masia and into the first team. What García remembers, however, is the player before the fame and before the trophies.
He was seeing Iniesta as a contemporary rather than as the finished article the football world would eventually come to know.
That makes García's comparison with Pedri particularly interesting.
Asked whether Barcelona's current midfield star can be likened to Iniesta, he did not simply say yes.
“Maybe Pedri is the player today who is closest to Iniesta,” García said. “There are similarities, and I think you can compare them more than you can compare Iniesta with other players.
“But Pedri has his own qualities and they are not exactly the same. Andrés had his abilities and Pedri has different ones. But if you ask me who is closest to Iniesta today, I would say Pedri.”
For García, the comparison is about style and personality rather than suggesting that Pedri is destined to reproduce Iniesta's career.
“I think Pedri has a lot of character as well,” he said. “That is something I see in him, together with his technical ability. But they are different players.
“Iniesta was Iniesta, and Pedri is Pedri.”
That distinction is important because García's memory of Iniesta comes from a time when there was no guarantee of what he would become.
He had already identified the talent.
The rest was still to come.
And what came was extraordinary: Iniesta became a central figure in Barcelona's greatest modern side, won four Champions League titles and nine LaLiga titles, and scored Spain's winning goal in the 2010 World Cup final.
García, though, does not need the benefit of hindsight to explain what made him special.
“He was a very special player,” he said. “When you are 10 or 12 and you are already playing at another level, you can see that there is something different there.
“Even in international matches, against the best players of your age, he was already showing that level.”
Now García has entered a new phase of his own career.
After joining Ajax earlier this year as part of Oscar García's coaching staff, he was appointed Jong Ajax head coach this summer. He is now responsible for helping develop young players trying to make the same transition from outstanding prospect to senior professional.
His experience of Iniesta gives him a particularly useful reference point.
Exceptional players do not suddenly become exceptional when they make their first-team debut.
Sometimes, the signs are there much earlier.
García saw them in Iniesta when they were still children.
And more than two decades later, his verdict has not changed.
“He was already playing at another level.”