Laporte agrees move to Manchester City

Posted Wednesday, January 24, 2018 by Marca.com

Athletic Club are already considering life without Aymeric Laporte after he reached the basis of an agreement with Premier League leaders Manchester City who are ready to pay his 65 million euro release clause.

The French defender is expected to sign a five year contract at the Etihad Stadium and will soon join Pep Guardiola for training.

Laporte will be wearing the blue of City by the end of the transfer window, as he came close to doing in 2016 when his release clause was just 50 million euros.

The news comes as a surprise, arriving just days after he publicly praised team-mate Kepa for committing his future to the club by signing a new contract.

Guardiola is keen to add another central defender and wanted Laporte right from his arrival in 2016, though the Frenchman turned down Txiki Begiristain and his negotiating team at the last moment.

Laporte's current deal runs until 2020 and from July his release clause will increase to 70 million euros.

Laporte discussed the potential move with Josu Urrutia, the club's president, as he visited the training ground at Lezama on Tuesday, though it was still in the very early stages at that time with neither the club nor the player aware of any such agreement in the morning.

City are confident that a deal will be completed at the start of next week.

Athletic are also prepared to reinvest the funds received by spending in the remaining week of the transfer window to replace one of their key men.