Sports
Manchester City complete £57m signing of Athletic Bilbao defender Aymeric Laporte for club record fee
MANCHESTER CITY have announced the signing of Athletic Bilbao defender Aymeric Laporte.
City triggered the Athletic Bilbao defender’s £57million release clause, a fee that smashes the current club record of £55m shelled out to Wolfsburg for Kevin De Bruyne in 2015.
Laporte told the club website: “I am very happy to be here.
“City are a club with a lot of ambition and they are one of the best teams in Europe.
“I am looking forward to working under Pep Guardiola and trying to help the club to achieve success.
“It means a lot that the club have shown faith in me and I am excited to get started.”
City boss Pep Guardiola has taken his spending to over £400m since his arrival in 2016 and a whopping £190m on defenders alone in the last two transfer windows.
Laporte had his medical over the weekend, having been left out of Friday’s draw with Eibar and will be at the Etihad on Wednesday as City take on West Brom.
Guardiola was full of praise for his new recruit and firmly believes Laporte will be a hit in England.
Pep said: “He is a young player, 23, 24 years old. He is left-footed, central defender, he has played since a young age in LaLiga, on the biggest stages.
“He is strong in the air, fast, good quality with the pass, so I am delighted, happy and grateful for what the club has done.”
“He is fit, he has been playing the last period so I think he is ready, of course he has to adapt, the Premier League is special in many senses, but I think he is intelligent and he will read the situation.”
The defender said goodbye earlier this week to the club he joined back in 2012 and thank them and the fans for their support.
Laporte said: “‘I want to thank the Athletic family for everything you have given me.
“I arrived as a teenager and here I grew up as a person and as a footballer.
“My farewell, ahead of a new challenge in my professional career.
“I don’t want it to be a goodbye, but a see you soon. Here I leave a unique club, different and I will never forget you.”
“I don’t want it to be a goodbye, but a see you soon. Here I leave a unique club, different and I will never forget you.”
He will now fight with Nicolas Otemedi, Vincent Kompany and John Stones for a place in the starting line-up for the second half of the campaign.