Laporte: I was right to reject Guardiola the first time round
Defender says he knew City would come back for him as he prepares for Wembley final today
possession instead of their average 56.4 per cent, while Wigan had
17 per cent.
The forwards must be patient, committed and prepared to hunt in small packs. Maintaining a deeper defensive line and sticking Aubameyang, Mkhitaryan and Ozil high up the pitch could be the way to grab a goal against the run of play.
Aymeric Laporte prepares for the Carabao Cup final today having already made his mark since his club-record £57.1million move to Manchester City. The deal saved Laporte’s first club, SU Agen, a tiny lower-tier team in the rugby union stronghold in southwest France – his father played rugby, not football – where the defender grew up.
Just a few weeks ago, Agen faced administration. Now they have received a €650,000 (£573,000) windfall because of the years Laporte spent at the part-time club and with the deal being an international transfer. Under Fifa rules, Agen were due one per cent of the fee paid to Athletic Bilbao and will honour Laporte. “There has been talk about naming a plot of land after me,” the centre-half says. “I was born there, I grew up there, I did everything there, so I’m really happy to have been able to help my old club, especially with them having financial difficulties.”
Laporte is looking for another honour – his first with City, having finally joined the club in the January transfer window, 18 months after Pep Guardiola earmarked him as a priority recruit. At that time, the move fell through. In a sign of his strength of character, it was the 23-year-old who pulled the plug. “I was injured and I didn’t think it was the right moment for me to come here,” Laporte explains. “The injury complicated things a bit but I knew that if I kept working hard, the chance would come as City knew the potential I had. I know what I have to do and what I had to work on.”
That shows the Frenchman’s confidence, as does his explanation of his style of play – and his belief that his move to City can help him to force his way into the France World Cup squad because, despite his ability and impressive performances in La Liga, he is yet to be capped.
“I like to think of myself as a modern defender rather than an old-school one,” Laporte says. “I’m trying to evolve with how football is going, but the truth is I like the style of playing the ball out from the back and hitting long passes.
“And, yes, I hope to go to the World Cup. I know I have a chance, but I must him as captain in then-Championship West Brom’s promotion bid in 2001-02.
“I remember him saying to me ‘you need to decide whether you want to be a coach or a manager because there’s a distinct difference’ and I get what he meant. I always wanted to be a manager. I wanted that final say, wanted the decision to be mine, the consequences of the results good or bad to be my responsibility.”
Celtic have won the past nine matches against Aberdeen. “I think Celtic see it as a chance to slap us down. You normally find the strongest, most motivated Celtic take us on. We have to overcome that,” he adds.
“We’re judged against Rangers and Celtic. The criticism comes when we don’t beat them, but it pleases me that’s the perception now. We’ve been to three cup finals in the past four years.
“At least we’re getting criticised for getting in the position to be successful rather than diddling along not making any impact.”
McInnes has turned down jobs at Sunderland and Rangers in the past two seasons. If he has plenty of suitors and a financial ceiling prevents him from achieving all he wants at Aberdeen, what keeps him at focus on what remains of the season and carrying on playing well, in both the Premier League and the Champions League.”
Guardiola would appear the perfect coach for a player such as Laporte, who also worked under the legendary Marcelo Bielsa at Bilbao. Guardiola, who regarded the Argentine as something of a mentor, even described him as “the best coach in world” and Laporte says he could not have been given two better tutors.
The major pull of joining City was, in fact, Guardiola himself. “He is such an influential figure in the world of football,” Laporte says. “Then I looked at the team and there are so many young players a similar age to myself, that was a major factor in my thinking.
“The two of them [Guardiola and Bielsa] just know so much about the Pittodrie? “You work for clubs, but you actually work for people. When you’ve got options to consider, you have to go with your gut feeling and ascertain who you’re gonna be working closely with, how much trust there is and does the club work properly.
“A manager can drive it, can get his team going, get the dressing room right and bring people in, but the enthusiasm, motivation and expertise in leadership must come from above.
“A manager is judged on the pitch but how your club works is normally how it plays out on the pitch.
“The opportunity to work down south will come again, I’m confident it will. I’ve got a plan for myself where I want to manage, how I want to go about things. It would need to take something that would grab me to want to leave here.”
Does the Premier League interest him in the future? “Yeah! Now!” he laughs. “This club, when I came in, people probably thought you go to Aberdeen and that’s some sort of guarantee of a chance to be successful, but a club’s only a name.
“It’s all of the people within the club who brought the success, not the name. I think clubs are about people and I don’t think we should ever forget that.”