Aymeric Laporte has made an intriguing remark about Pep Guardiola, after the defender left Manchester City last summer after five-and-a-half years.
The 29-year-old was one of three big-name players to leave City last summer, the others being Ilkay Gundogan and Riyad Mahrez.
He had struggled for game time during City’s Treble winning season, with the likes of Nathan Ake, Ruben Dias and Manuel Akanji the preferred options at the back for Pep.
Laporte made just 24 appearances last term, and his lack of game time saw him complete a move to Al Nassr for just under £24 million.
Laporte – who has previously lamented his injury luck at City – has been speaking about his exit from the club – and made a peculiar comment about Pep Guardiola…
Aymeric Laporte makes cryptic comment about Pep Guardiola after Manchester City exit
Laporte is currently on duty with Spain and gearing up for matches against Colombia and Brazil.
The centre-half may have moved to the Saudi Pro League, but that has not really affected his standing so far at international level.
He missed out on selection back in November for games against Cyprus in Georgia, but made the two previous squads, playing 90 minutes four times.
Laporte spoke to Radio Marca, and reflected on his time at City.
On Guardiola, he made an intriguing comment. When asked about how Guardiola usually says ‘if someone doesn’t want to be here, let them say so… and good luck’,Laporte said: “That’s what he usually says, but for a number of players it wasn’t like that.
“I’m not going to get into that kind of thing. I decided to leave and I was able to leave. That’s it.”
Laporte exit seems complicated
This is an interesting remark from Laporte, and the suggestion is that his exit from City wasn’t all that straightforward.
He is hinting that Pep behaved differently to how he normally does when it came to his exit and some others.
Laporte chose not to elaborate, but hopefully there is no ill feeling there. We know that City hold a place in his heart, as he recently reacted very warmly to the club marking the anniversary of his signing on social media.
Undoubtedly during his time at the Etihad, Laporte became a world-class central defender – certainly in his early seasons – and one of the best ball-players City have ever had.