Aymeric Laporte Transfer News & Odds

Aymeric Laporte has been at Manchester City since 2018, making 120 Premier League appearances, scoring eight goals and winning a whole heap of trophies including five Premier League titles, two FA Cups, three EFL Cups, a Champions League title and a Community Shield.

The centre-back has been on the out at City, with fewer and fewer appearances, only making 12 appearances in the 2022/23 Premier League season in comparison to the 33 appearances he made the campaign before. This means a move away from the blue side of Manchester could be on the cards.

One of the most likely options for the Spaniard is to stay put in Manchester. If Pep Guardiola’s side looks to push to repeat their treble from the 2022/23 season, they’ll need all the squad depth they can get.

Before the 2022/23 season, Laporte was a main fixture in Guardiola’s side, especially during the successful 2018/19 season where Laporte made 35 appearances in the Premier League season. Guardiola has utilised a 3 - 4 - 2 - 1 most of the 2022/23 season, usually using John Stones, Manuel Akanji, Ruben Dias or Nathan Ake.

With such a packed calendar and the constant threat of injuries, keeping Laporte in Manchester would be to both the Spaniard’s and City’s benefit, and looks to be the most likely option for Laporte.

The most likely move for Laporte could keep him in England, just moving south to the capital. Tottenham’s backline has been somewhat hit or miss last season, with the likes of Clement Lenglet, Davidson Sanchez and Eric Dier manning the centre-back positions.

Tottenham’s defensive woes included conceding 63 goals, with only Leicester, Nottingham Forest, Southampton, Bournemouth and Leeds conceding more. Spurs also only kept eight clean sheets last season, meaning there is a definite need to reinforce the defence.

Ange Postecogulu has a big job ahead of him to get Tottenham back in the Champions League, and adding the likes of Laporte, who has experience winning in England and in Europe which is just the type of player Tottenham need and are likely to get this summer.

Laporte has also been linked with a sentimental move back to Athletic Bilbao, the club he made his professional debut for and who he is consistently touted as one of the biggest talents they’ve ever created.

The Spaniard made his debut for Athletic Bilbao in the 2012/13 season and went on to make 222 appearances and scoring ten goals as well as winning the Supercopa de Espana in 2015. Laporte was allowed to play for Bilbao despite their strict ruling on only Basque players being allowed to play for the club due to his grandparents hailing from the region.

Athletic may be losing their veteran centre-back Inigo Martinez to Barcelona this summer and therefore a move to bring Laporte back to the Basque team. Out of Guardiola’s favour, a return to the club that gave him his start in professional football could be very likely.

Teams in the Saudi Pro League have been spending big thus far this summer, drawing all sorts of big names to the league. This somewhat mass migration started with Cristiano Ronaldo’s move to Al-Nassr in January and has been continued by Karim Benzema, N'golo Kante and Edouard Mendy.

A move to Saudi Arabia for the 29-year-old could not only give him a nearly guaranteed spot in a starting XI and an even bigger wage. With the appearances dwindling at City, and the other defenders being favoured, a fresh start in a different league could not only be the right thing for Laporte but also the likely thing.

Another move to stay within England is also available for Laporte, this time to Unai Emery’s Aston Villa.

Laporte has more than enough experience in the Premier League and European competition to be of great help for Villa this season as they grapple with repeating their success in the Premier League this season while dealing with the midweek matches in Europe.

Though not as likely as other moves on this list, if Laporte wanted to continue to prove himself in a league as competitive as the Premier League while still in the prime of his career.

Barcelona have been heavily linked with Laporte this summer, but the financial issues currently plaguing the Catalan club for the past few seasons may prevent this move.

Laporte is favoured by Barcelona for his ability to play out from the back, something that they’ve struggled with this season as well as his ability with his left foot, an attractive aspect for a potential defensive partnership with Marcos Alonso.

The only thing that could mar this move is the financial aspect, as City bought Laporte for £60 million and will want to make a return on that investment, something Barcelona aren’t particularly in the position to fulfil.

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