Aymeric Laporte

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Juve will probably go for the loan option with obligation to buy as they don't like paying large sums of wedge up front. That in itself is problematic for City due to Laportes' age hence the low price he's being touted for possibly?
 
Chipmeister said:
I know a very close friend of the Laporte family and he says Aymeric loves it at City but wants to play more regular football.
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Understandable, but in a weird way the success of Akanji's upset our expected first team selection order.

Before his arrival, Walker, Dias, Laporté & Cancelo was nailed on our preferred defence.

However, with Dias, Laporté & to a lesser degree Aké all suffering/recovering from serious injuries at the start of the season, Akanji was thrown in at the deep end & took to our defence & our Pep-Ball ethos like a duck to water.

The form of Stones provided us with another massive boon, with probably the biggest surprise being Aké being preferred at LB to Cancelo.

We adapted to the players we had available, in a season disrupted by injuries & a World Cup in the middle of it.

Our form was patchy & there seemed to be something amiss with the mood & mentality of the squad.

Pep signing a two year extension settled one rumbling matter, & it was only the shock departure of Cancelo that opened the lid on the sense of something being off with the squad.

Our form didn't immediately improve with Cancelo leaving, but our mood & mentality were visually raised. By mid-March the Manchester City we know & expected were back with a bang, & we set about hunting down the Arseholes!

But herein lay the problem! Akanji was super trusted by Pep & made himself undroppable. Stones was in the form of his life. Dias had regained his place & returned to being our Warrior Wonder Wall at the back & Aké became a revelation playing that hybrid LCB/LB role he'd made his own since Cancelo's departure.

This evidently put Walker's & Laporte's noses out of joint. They'd gone from being automatic starters if fit in orevious seasons, to collecting splinters on their arses after both were benched.

We'd turned a corner. Everyone was playing unbelievably well, so Pep had zero reason/incentive to break up that back line who were dominating opposition attackers.

To further illustrate this, as usual before a final we were all shitting ourselves that Pep would have yet ANOTHER brainfart & pick a totally unexpected 11 to start, with some revolutionary formation.

The only shock in the CL Final was the exclusion of Walker. HOWEVER, when you took a closer look at our starting defence, for the first time Pep had us setup & playing the way City play, & this time he went with form, which was Akanji RB/Right of a back three, Stones in the hybrid RCB/Double midfield pivot role, Dias as LCB/Central defender of a back three & Aké as LB/Left of a back three.

The final wasn't our best game, but we did what was necessary & finally got the CL monkey off our backs! Unfortunately, we had six worthy candidates to start that final, with only four places available. Someone's nose was gonna be put out of joint & this time it was the turn of Walker & Laporté.

Now if out of anger at not being selected to start either wants to leave, then fuck em both! What I'd love to hear is that neither want to leave & both know the whole squad start with a clean slate next season & they return for pre-season, refreshed, fit, raring to go & determined to win back their starting places.

That's the attitude we need at City, NOT players who feel they can spit their dummies out at not being selected like Cancelo, in the belief this will force Pep's hand to play them.

I'd HATE to be at a club where I knew no matter how well I played, or how much better I performed over the players in competition for my position, one or two players will always be selected ahead of me.

Pep proved last season he was prepared to go with form, & look where it got us! Not only did we win our first Champions League, we did it by winning the Tr3bl3 too!

I'd love to know how Walker, Laporté or Mahrez could argue against that level of success, which only a Quadruple could beat? The ball is in their court imo.

I also find it odd that Laporté seems to have gone VERY quiet with his threats to leave! It seems we've called his bluff with our pursuit of Gvardiol, so where the fuck this leaves Eric now is anyone's guess. \0/
 
Laporte is our best player in bringing the ball out of the back. I believe even Pep mentioned this. He may not have had a great season but few seasons ago we could say the same about John Stones who is now the rave of the moment. If he enters any defense in the league he would be a starter. I can’t think of anyone where he wouldn’t start. €33m is a piss take in my opinion.
 
ojeme said:
Laporte is our best player in bringing the ball out of the back. I believe even Pep mentioned this. He may not have had a great season but few seasons ago we could say the same about John Stones who is now the rave of the moment. If he enters any defense in the league he would be a starter. I can’t think of anyone where he wouldn’t start. €33m is a piss take in my opinion.
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All our players are good at it Laporte just behind stones
 
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