When it comes to Athletic Bilbao, we don’t tend to pay much attention to rumours unless they’re from El Correo.
The local Basque newspaper have been excellent in the past with most transfers, including Ander Herrera’s messy deal to Manchester United, and now they’re providing insight on the Aymeric Laporte to Manchester City story.
It seems the Premier League club are very interested in the French defender, who is currently recovering from a leg fracture, and El Correo claim City let the player know very recently they will pay his release clause, standing at €50m, next week.
To activate the clause, Manchester City will need to transfer the money to Laporte personally, who would then let Athletic Bilbao he will rescind his contract with this money to sign for the Premier League club.
The defender is yet to receive an official contract offer from City, but El Correo state the player will be offered a five-year deal with a salary three times that of his current deal, which would take him to around £115k/week post-tax.
The catalyst behind all this activity is because Laporte is to be given the all clear regarding his leg operation ‘in the coming hours’, but Athletic aren’t ready to throw in the towel just yet.
The Spanish club are prepared to offer their star defender a new deal, which would see him become the best paid player at the club, once again reinforcing the trust they have in him.
If the player were to leave, everyone involved would like it to be on good terms, with a certain amount of dignity involved, something that wasn’t quite the case with Ander Herrera, meaning he will happily sit down and listen to what Athletic have to offer.
El Correo seem slightly resigned to the player leaving, especially after so many rumours over the past few years.
After all, the lure of playing under Pep Guardiola will certainly play a big part in all this, and with more chances of winning trophies there, the player might even finally break into the France squad.
Tom Coast.
