It's either, simply a case of the money on offer to him being impossible to turn down. Which I fully understand; I'm not having a go at him for it. Or, there were simply no offers in for him from a top European club that were acceptable to either him or the club. He's certainly got it in him to play at the elite level for another two or three years.Surprised he went to that league, he's a class player and would do well in any side. Best luck to him shame to see him go
Laporte gets handsomely paid having already collected plenty of silverware, the Saudis get a top player with plenty left in the tank and City get shut of an unwanted player for a fair fee which is paid our preferred way.The reason the Saudis got him so cheap is because they pay upfront in cash. No messing about with payment plans like most European clubs do. It's probably better for City to take £25m today, rather than £35m over 5 years.
Agreed, that's crazy money. Obviously he'll never be as good as Harry Maguire so we couldn't have expected £80m, but still.What ? £23.6 million, somebody had their pants pull down me thinks
Agreed, that's crazy money. Obviously he'll never be as good as Harry Maguire so we couldn't have expected £80m, but still.
EDIT: I don't know how I managed to type that whilst laughing so much! Harry fucking Maguire, I wouldn't give them 80p for him.
To be fair to the Saudis the more of these half decent players they sign, the more the better players might consider going there. It’s not as unattractive place to play now as it was a few years ago, which I suppose is what they’re trying to do. It’s not a bad price for someone who wasn’t getting a game. Means he cost us about £30m for the 5 years we had him for which is a bargain really
Maybe the Saudi's reminded City about Article 17?If Manchester City wanted Laporte from any other club right now it would be starting at £80million plus add-on
The price we got is daft, £23.8 million ?? I am shocked, let's hope we have a really good sell price around the 50% mark
Go and get me a left-footed international defender who's won 5 Premier League titles and many cups and is still in his prime for £23.8 million