Frenchman is contracted to the San Mames until June 2018.
Bayern Munich have now joined Arsenal in the race to land young Athletic Bilbao centre-back Aymeric Laporte for next season, according to reports on talkSPORT.co.uk.
Read more Arsenal news here!
The highly rated France Under-21 international has only been laying for the Basque giants for the past two years now, during which time Laporte has developed a growing reputation in La Liga on the back of a number of commanding displays at the back for his side in La Liga.
And initially, it was both the north London club and La Liga champions FC Barcelona who were the only two interested clubs in the exciting 19-year-old.
However, it now appears as though former Barca head coach Pep Guardiola is also a big fan of the Frenchman, so much so that the Bundesliga and European champions are themselves now set to try to lure Laporte to Bavaria when the summer transfer window reopens on July 1.
But unless the Catalans have their recently imposed transfer ban lifted by world football’s governing body Fifa, then Barcelona look like being forced to miss out on the player’s signature, and so leaving it to just Bayern and the Gunners to go head to head for the central defender instead.
SEE ALSO: The Fastest Players on Fifa 14