Spanish newspaper Marca have a feature in their Saturday edition on Aymeric Laporte. The Athletic Club defender isn’t having a very good season, having returned from a serious injury.
In March, Laporte both dislocated and broke his right ankle whilst playing for France’s U21 team and since his return he’s been unable to hit the heights of his best form and find consistency at that level.
Before and after the injury Laporte was strongly linked with a move to Manchester City. It was known Pep Guardiola would be strengthening Manchester City’s defence and Laporte was the obvious target.
Marca claim the defender had decided to join up with Guardiola, but after the ankle injury he changed his mind, calling Manchester City to inform them of his change of plans.
Then Athletic Club gave Laporte a new contract with an even higher release clause, with it now standing at €65m.
There’s no chance of him leaving Bilbao for less than €65m, so if Manchester City become interested again then that’s the price.
At just 22 years of age, there’s plenty of time for the Frenchman to get his best form back, and maybe tempt Guardiola to sanction such a move.
