Manchester City are ready to sell defender Aymeric Laporte for 60 million pounds this summer, with the French-born Spanish national team player wanting to return to La Liga after losing his starting place.
City paid a poor record fee of £ 57 million for Laporte in January 2018 and he was without a doubt the best midfielder in the Premier League when the club barely beat Liverpool to the title the following year.
But the former Athletic Club star suffered a long-term knee injury at the start of the 2019/20 season and was ruled out for several months. He returned to the starting lineup when he had fully recovered but then lost his place to Ruben Dias at the start of the 2020/21 campaign.
90 minutes revealed in early August that Laporte has informed City of his desire to leave, with La Liga the only place he wants to go. Real Madrid and Barcelona have both registered interest and have asked City to be kept informed of their situation.
The Daily Mail has now reported that City have agreed to sell if an offer corresponds to their valuation of £ 27 million on the 27-year-old. That agreement is believed to have been entered into with the player before the transfer window starts.
City have already spent £ 100m on a UK record transfer to sign Jack Grealish this summer, but player sales would be a big help in getting closer to the £ 150m that could be needed to persuade Tottenham to leave a company with Harry Kane.
Laporte, along with Bernardo Silva, who was close to joining Barcelona last summer until the Catalan club’s finances ensured it could not happen, are the two most obvious marketable assets that could generate significant revenue.
The problem for City when it comes to selling Laporte is that it is unlikely that the clubs that have made their interest have the finances to make a bid. Real and Barça would both benefit from defensive reinforcements, but the former have suffered as a result of the pandemic, while the latter are struggling to follow the La Liga pay rules as they are.
For more from Jamie Spencer, follow him on Twitter and Facebook!
