Manchester City defender Aymeric Laporte is said to be putting pressure on the City hierarchy to let him leave the Etihad Stadium for Barcelona, according to reports.
The 27-year-old Frenchman had been an automatic choice since signing in January 2018 from Athletic Bilbao for £57 million – a club record at the time.
However, the 2019/20 season was not so successful for the defender. He suffered a long-term Achilles injury in the early stages of the campaign, forcing him to miss over half of their fixtures.
Laporte was City’s best defender during their title-winning campaign two years ago, but the serious knee problem saw him miss the majority of last season that saw the Frenchman lose his place in the team.
Sam Lee of the Athletic reported over the weekend that the thought of Laporte returning to Spain has always appealed the defender and losing his spot in the Man City team accelerated those plans.
Barcelona have already signed Sergio Aguero and Eric Garcia from City this summer via free transfers and Laporte could become the third player to join the La Liga Club in this summer’s transfer window.
According to sport, Aymeric Laporte wants to change Manchester City for Barça and is putting pressure on the English club to be able to land at the Camp Nou this summer
The report says Laporte now wants to move to Spain with Barcelona, believing the La Liga titans’ lack of centre-back options has opened a door to a potential arrival.
The French nationalized Spanish central defender is hopeful he’ll be allowed to move back to La Liga through a swap deal, believing that represents the best chance in order for a deal to happen.
Should City move Laporte on this summer, it would leave Nathan Ake as the only back up to regular pairing Dias and John Stones.
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