Pep Guardiola had made up his mind on selling Aymeric Laporte well before the 22/23 season had come to an end but MCFC are not even close to offloading him.
The defender has fallen down the pecking order at the club and last season, he managed to start only 11 Premier League games for Manchester City. His contract runs out in 2025 and as per the reports, MCFC will let him go this summer if a club is willing to pay around £30 million.
City had paid a staggering £55 million for the defender back in 2018 but the rise of Ruben Dias and Ake along with the introduction of Manuel Akanji has made Aymeric Laporte almost a bystander.
Laporte is still only 29 years old and there was a feeling that at just £30 million, several clubs will fight it out to get his signature. However, that has not been the case because, despite several clubs showing interest in him, none of them has made a formal move yet.
Will Aymeric Laporte remain unsold this summer?
Juventus are one of the clubs who have been linked with the central defender but the Serie A side believe £30 million is too much for Aymeric Laporte. They are not keen to shell out such an amount and they will only start negotiations with Man City if they can sell some players first.
The two North London clubs Tottenham and Arsenal are also interested in the 29-year-old but neither of them has made any sort of formal offer. Both of them are looking elsewhere meaning Laporte is not their priority signing.
Arsenal are about to bring in Jurrien Timber from Ajax while Spurs are busy making Lenglet’s deal permanent plus chasing Wolves’ Max Kilman and Galatasaray’s Victor Nelsson.
Chelsea have lost Kouibaly to the Saudi Pro League and they are also monitoring Laporte’s situation but currently, they have seven central defenders in their squad which is why Pochettino is focused on other areas of his squad. Laporte is a left-footed central defender but the Blues already have Levi Colwill and Badiashile who are similar players which means there’s no hurry on their part.
For these three Premier League teams, £30 million is not an issue at all but they are yet to make up their mind. Probably they want to wrap up the more complex transfers because they all know for a fact that Ayemric Laporte is very much up for sale and that MCFC won’t haggle too much for the out of favour centre-back.
Out of Europe, Aymeric Laporte is wanted by a Saudi Pro League team and this may be the best option for the Spain international. The Saudi teams are offering crazy salaries and if the payment is good enough then Laporte won’t mind leaving Europe and moving to the Middle East.
Honestly, Manchester City don’t care where Aymeric Laporte is headed as long as they get the right value but the interested clubs are leaving it awfully late. MCFC will want to get him off their wage bill before the new season begins because he currently earns £6,240,000 per year. Also, Pep Guardiola is very close to bringing in Josko Gvardiol from Leipzig and they are paying a lot of money for the 21-year-old.
We firmly believe Laporte will eventually be sold in the next few weeks but the more time he has to wait, the less chance he will get to make a calculated decision.
