Spain target City defender after World Cup disaster
SPAIN are said to want Manchester City defender Aymeric Laporte to join them after their disastrous World Cup showing.
La Roja crashed out in the last 16 against hosts Russia, and are already seeking to rebuild parts of their ageing squad – including at centre-back.
They have an established pairing in Barcelona’s Gerard Pique and Real Madrid star Sergio Ramos, but no real alternatives – in Russia they only had Nacho and full back Cesar Azpilicueta as back-up.
They also have Athletic Bilbao’s Inigo Martinez and Barca’s Marc Bartra, but the field is wide open.
And City’s record signing Laporte is STILL eligible to play for Spain at senior level, despite representing regularly at youth level.
The £57million buy is of Basque descent, and two years ago Spain national team manager Julen Lopetegui – who quit his job just before the World Cup – persuaded him to start the process of becoming eligible for Spain, after his impressive displays for Athletic Bilbao.
France called him up to their squad the following month, and Laporte declared that he would opt to play for France.
But he did not make an appearance for them, despite being in the squad for two World Cup qualifiers, and Spain are said to be prepared to ask him once more.
They want a ball-playing defender and believe he will improve under Pep Guardiola at City.
Laporte might feel that France, who have a much younger pairing in Samuel Umtiti and Raphael Varane, will be harder to penetrate. Aymeric Laporte could come to the rescue of Spain MANCHESTER City are prepared to break their club transfer record to land Riyad Mahrez … but is he THAT good?
Of course, everyone remembers the Mahrez that won the PFA Player of the Year award in 2016 after some breathtaking performances led ANYONE who thinks Raheem Sterling should be dropped for England’s World Cup crunch with Sweden needs to be strapped to a chair and made to watch more football videos.
Yet again, the clamour to demote the Manchester City man, and Leicester to a fairy tale title win.
But there is a general perception among football fans in general that, like the Foxes themselves, the Algerian’s brilliant season was something of a flash in the pan.
The PFA award was one of a staggering 11 that he won that year, including three different African Footballer of the Year trophies.
Since then, as an individual and for his club, nothing, and that has replace him with Manchester United youngster Marcus Rashford, is growing. Thankfully for the Three Lions, manager Gareth Southgate has a far more subtle grasp of football than the howling masses.
That is no reflection on Rashford – he is a terrific player and a fine prospect, and it’s great to see a young Mancunian flourishing.
But anyone coming away from England’s tense victory over fed the perception that he has settled back down into being simply another good Premier League player.
His team-mate in that Leicester outfit, N’Golo Kante, stayed in the limelight by moving to a bigger club – and now Mahrez is about to do the same.
The two clubs are close to completing a deal worth around £60million, which would beat the previous club record, the £57million paid for Aymeric Laporte in January.
There was certainly a drop in his performance in the season following the Foxes’ unlikely triumph.
From scoring 17 goals and assisting 11 in the title season, Mahrez scored just six and made three assists in the following campaign.
But last season, with Leicester back in the top half, he looked more like his old self, with 12 goals and ten assists.
Those stats will have informed City’s decision to make him their number one target this summer when they decided to add another attacking player. Colombia thinking that Sterling had not contributed needs to give their head a wobble. It is true that the 23-year-old has not been the dashing, goalscoring, chancecreating genie who gave Pep Guardiola’s team a strand of chaotic unpredictability last season.
But he has been asked, by Southgate, to fulfil a different role.
Playing as a number ten behind Harry Kane, his job is to distort the He scored as many goals as Chelsea ace Eden Hazard, and in terms of his assists, the only players with better records were the four City stars Kevin De Bruyne, Leroy Sane, David Silva and Raheem Sterling. His tally of ten was the same as player of the Year Mo Salah, Christian Eriksen and Paul Pogba. But the stats only serve to back up the evidence of the eye. Mahrez was back to his silky-smooth best in many ways, able to beat defenders with a switch of feet, a burst of pace or a swivel of the hips. His Leicester boss Claude Puel had to deal with the headaches caused by Mahrez’s desperation to leave the club and join City, but he unequivocal when asked if he thought Mahrez was a better player last season than he was in his award-winning title campaign. “Better? I think he’s more complete, he can do more penetration, he is an experienced player and has good maturity,” said the French Stuart Brennan defence, pulling defenders out of position, making them turn and think, and so creating space both for Kane and for midfield runners Dele Alli and Jesse Lingard.
Lingard’s lovely goal against Panama was a perfect illustration – everyone can recall the United man’s brilliant finish, but who noticed Sterling’s role?
He was playing with his back to goal, a defender on his shoulder, and