Who should Pep Guardiola sign to improve Manchester City’s unstable defence?

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Aymeric Laporte

A less well-known name in the UK is Athletic Bilbao’s Aymeric Laporte. The French under-21 international is also 22 and incredibly highly regarded across Spain, but has made less of an impact on the English media due to playing for a team just below the Spanish elite. Laporte is similar to Stones in the fact he’s equally comfortable in the tackle as he is passing the ball, but he averaged more tackles and more interceptions in the league than Stones despite playing 7 fewer games. That feat is made more impressive by Bilbao’s habit of attempting to control the game higher up the field, leaving their defenceless consistent work to do, unless on the counter.

Laporte also contributed more in the offensive department than Stones last season. The defender, who was chasing a call-up for the Euros prior to his injury on under-21 duty in March, scored five and assisted one in all competitions, while Stones failed to net during the campaign. However, he also failed nearly 10% more passes in the league, which may slightly dissuade Guardiola in his pursuit.

While being the more attractive prospect on paper, Laporte may prove more difficult to sign over the course of the summer. Athletic Bilbao have a “cantera” policy for their players, meaning they only recruit from within the Basque region of Spain, which the club is from. With such limited recruitment, Bilbao may be reluctant to sell if they can’t find a suitable replacement. They also have a history of not selling their players unless the release clause is met and Laporte’s is believed to be in the region of £40m. While City certainly have the spending power, with the improvements they need to make in nearly every area of the squad, that price may be a little too high.

Signing Stones won’t be easy for Guardiola either. As mentioned earlier, Everton rejected an offer of £30m from Chelsea, suggesting that it will take upwards of that to prize him away, even after a lacklustre season. Rumour has it that when the Everton man signed his latest contract, he insisted on a £38m release clause, meaning that City may end up paying similar money no matter which promising future star they sign.

If both players do have similar release clauses, which player City sign may depend on if they can make up their homegrown player count elsewhere. Should they struggle, signing the man who could be England’s centre-back for the next 10 years may be the best option. If those restrictions aren’t a factor, Aymeric Laporte is the perfect choice for Guardiola’s rebuilding project at Manchester City and, at this moment in time, a complete player.

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