Despite the news of Aymeric Laporte’s imminent transfer to Manchester City, it seems the Spanish defender will still be an Athletic Club Bilbao player this weekend, unless something changes quickly.
The information was confirmed by club manager Kuko Ziganda, who today had to respond to several questions about Laporte moving to Manchester City.
“Yes, count on Aymeric. He is available for tomorrow,” said the manager, confirming that the player should feature in the home match against Eibar.
As covered by Mundo Deportivo, Ziganda still claimed Laporte is calm and told him he can continue to train and play without any problems.
Asked if the player told him something about Manchester City’s offer, the manager said: “No, and I still do not lie.”
The boss still had other words about the transfer: “We have to be used to dealing with these situations. We have to be open to this type of news, but the important thing is tomorrow’s match against Eibar, reaffirming the feeling we gave in the last game at home and taking a step forward.”
Pep Guardiola’s side are expected to pay €65m for the defender’s release clause. Since Athletic’s other match will only be played after the end of the transfer window, tomorrow’s La Liga game could mark Laporte’s farewell to the San Mamés side.
Earlier reports from Bilbao had seemed pretty sure Laporte wouldn’t play as it was expected Manchester City would make sure the €65m arrived in Athletic’s account on Thursday or Friday.
There’s no suggestion of any problem with the transfer, there may just be a delay.
