Sources: Man City willing to sell Aymeric Laporte amid £40m offer reveal
Man City are willing to sell Aymeric Laporte this summer if they can secure a top-level replacement, sources have told Football Insider.
The Spain international, 28, has made just six Premier League starts this season and struggled for game time in Pep Guardiola’s side after previously being a first choice.
It is believed that Laporte is mulling over his future and City will not stand in his way of leaving if a club matches their asking price.
That is believed to be around the £40million mark, a long way short of the £60m City paid in 2018 to prise him from Athletic Bilbao.
The Premier League champions have been eyeing potential centre-back targets and one they are pursuing closely is RB Leipzig’s Javier Gvardiol.
He is wanted by multiple Premier League clubs – and came close to joining Chelsea late in last summer’s window – but a £100m+ asking price means only a small number of teams could afford him.
Selling a player like Laporte would raise considerable funds for City, whose own transfer business could depend upon the ongoing Premier League investigation into alleged financial breaches.
Guardiola likes to continually refresh his squad and starting XI to avoid staleness kicking in, and has repeatedly showed he is not afraid to sell big names who have previously been central figures in his side.
Joao Cancelo surprisingly joined Bayern Munich on a loan-to-buy deal in January, while Raheem Sterling, Gabriel Jesus and Aleksandr Zinchenko were all sold to top-four rivals last summer.
Laporte has not figured in any of the last four City matches and his tally of 1219 minutes in all competitions this season is bettered by 16 teammates.
That includes four centre-backs – Manuel Akanji (2318 minutes), Ruben Dias (2053), Nathan Ake (2099) and John Stones (1435).
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