Aymeric Laporte a new Barcelona transfer target
There could be an exchange with Sergi Roberto
Relations between Man City and Barca were not good in the Bartomeu era. Things have changed with Laporta in charge, who appointed Txiki Begiristain back in June 2033 to lead Barca’s sporting department. Laporta listened to Johan Cruyff’s recommendation. They have a connection and that has led to them discussing various options in the summer market.
Centre back is a problem for barca. They have six players in the squad who can play there: Pique, Lenglet, Umtiti, Araujo, Mingueza and the recently arrived Eric Garcia.
Umtiti is the one they want out most, but it won’t be easy given his high salary. But the doors are open to most of the others too.
Barca and City are discussing the potential move of Aymeric Laporte to Camp Nou. The recently nationalised Spaniard is not getting regular games with Ruben Dias (50 games) and John Stones(35 games) the preferred partnership.
The French-born defender will play at the Euros with Eric Garcia under Luis Enrique. He’s a player Barca wanted when he was back at Athletic Bilbao. City paid 65m euros, his release clause, to lure him away in 2018.
The Catalans can’t get near that now but might be able to exchange Sergi Roberto as part of the deal. He’s a player Pep Guardiola has always liked and he in fact gave him his debut in the 2010-11 season, where Barca beat Madrid 2-0 at the Bernabeu in the Champions League semi-finals.
He’s a versatile player like in Europe and Guardiola sees him as a top level addition, He would also only want to leave Camp Nou to link up with Pep again. Barca might want to get Laporte sown up early before potentially more suitors arrive following his Euro 2020 performances.
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