Manchester City Eye Up Aymeric Laporte's €65 million Release Clause

Far from sulking over Alexis Sanchez's move to Manchester United it looks like Pep Guardiola is hoping to bounce back with a signing or two of his own. Now he's considering making a move for Aymeric Laporte.

Alexis Sanchez was top of Manchester City's transfer targets list in the summer and he remained there until this transfer window until Manchester United decided to swoop in with a bigger offer and Pep Guardiola decided to back away.

With the transfer ongoing City finally picked up their first loss of the Premier League and suddenly it felt like City could have been having a rather miserable January, especially when Newcastle had a chance at 2-1 on Saturday.

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But of course Pep Guardiola's side are still 12 points clear of Manchester United and the chances of the rails falling off that much that they don't win the league are slim to none and Pep is determined to make sure that doesn't happen.

City are already being linked with a move for Shakhtar's Fred this window and now, according to Gianluca di Marzio they are eyeing up the possibility of signing Athletic Bilbao centre back Aymeric Laporte for €65 million.

Laporte wins the ball. Image: PA Images.

The French defender has a transfer release clause that would mean the Basque club have to accept any offer of €65 million, allowing the player to negotiate with the buying club.

Another centre back has long been on Guardiola's list with Jonny Evans another target but Laporte has been in his sights since the summer of 2016 when the Citizens last showed interest in signing him. The 23 year old nearly moved to the Etihad back then but decided to sign a new deal in Spain.

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His ability to play at left back and the hesitation of some teams to pay big money part way through the season would make City favourites to sign him again.

The former France under 21 has been at Bilbao since 2012 and has played 219 times for them, this season Bilbao are in mid table but Laporte remains one of football's most wanted defenders.

Topics: Manchester City, Football News, Athletic Bilbao, Premier League, Aymeric Laporte, Spain, La Liga

Ryan Sidle

Ryan is a writer for SPORTbible. He covers all sport from football, formula one, cricket, rugby, tennis, athletics, mma and wrestling. He obviously hates YOUR football team and has no interest in synchronised swimming.

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