Maybe we can blame the Alexis Sanchez saga and the reporting of it for this, as El Correo report on Wednesday that Aymeric Laporte will cost Manchester City €150m.
Yes, the player’s release clause is a rather more reasonable €65m, and Manchester City will have to pay that all in one and upfront, but El Correo have added wages and taxes to it and come up with the €150m figure.
The Bilbao newspaper say Laporte has signed a 6 year contract with City, which may mean it’s 6 years from the summer with an extra few months added on for now.
Laporte will be on a ‘progressive card’ which means his wages will rise, and there’s bonuses on top of that as well.
It’s explained Laporte will receive €7m a year after tax and when El Correo throw all the numbers together they come up with €150m.
Taking a closer look at that, €7m multiplied by 6 makes €42m, which when added to €65m is still some way from €150m. But it’s likely the tax calcualtions which take the amount to the higher figure for Manchester City.
El Correo must be working Laporte’s tax out at 50% which would put him on a normal salary basis, but given we all know football has a rather special collection of creative accountants, it’s got to be likely the actual tax bill will be much less.
In Bilbao the move is being treated as imminent.
