There was a real sadness for some last summer when Aymeric Laporte left Manchester City – and the defender has opened up about why he had to leave.
City signed Laporte from Athletic Bilbao in the January 2018 transfer window, dropping £57 million on the star which was a club record at the time.
City signing players for big money in January has never been a common occurrence, but Laporte was clearly someone the club very much wanted at the time.
The Spain international enjoyed a fantastic spell with City, although he did pick up several injuries which limited his time on the pitch.
In his last season, despite being injury-free, he didn’t play too much and last summer, he left to join Saudi Pro League club Al Nassr – and now he’s shed some light on why he felt he needed to go…
Aymeric Laporte admits he struggled to play at left-back for Manchester City
Laporte has given a new interview with Spanish outlet Radio Marca, as he prepares to play against Colombia on Friday.
He talked about Guardiola, and suggested that the City manager adopted a different stance over certain players.
He also spoke about his exit from the club, admitting that playing out of position was a big factor in him pushing to leave. He told Radio Marca: “I made that decision also for the moment, I think it was the right one, because of life circumstances and because of my situation at City as well. I’d been playing there for a long time, I’d achieved almost everything, and I’d been playing for two years in a place that wasn’t the position I didn’t want to play.
“When a year or two years go by and you don’t play in the right place for you, it’s a bit frustrating because you don’t show your best. You can make any efforts. I was used to playing as a centre-back and not so much on the wing. It’s not just the ideal position for me. They also signed a lot of other centre-backs during the last three years of my time at City and it was time for me to leave and not stay.”
Laporte leaving was a shame, but his decision is understandable
It really was a shame that Laporte left because he was one classy centre-back, with a passing range that no current City defender has.
Frankly, there are actually very few defenders in world football who can hold a candle to Laporte when it comes to passing the ball out from the back. As per WhoScored, his pass success rate was comfortably over 90% for Man City in his last three seasons at the club.
But his reasons for leaving are understandable. In his final term he was not in favour, and when he did play he operated on the left a lot, rather than in the middle.
It was a real surprise to see him head to Saudi, as he could easily have played for a top club in Europe. Seemingly though offers were not forthcoming, and Laporte is now with Al Nassr. Hopefully, he will return to Europe before too long.