- Manchester City look set to sign Aymeric Laporte in a club-record transfer
- The league leaders are confident of wrapping up a £57million deal in the coming days
- The Athletic Bilbao defender could be a fine signing by City
- READ MORE: Pep Guardiola tipped to seal £60m Man City signing, Man Utd urged to hijack bid
Manchester City are reportedly prepared to seal the club-record transfer of Aymeric Laporte by meeting the Athletic Bilbao defender’s release clause.
A £57million deal looks like it could be imminent for Pep Guardiola’s side, with BBC Sport claiming they expect negotiations to be finalised before the end of the transfer window next Wednesday.
Laporte has shone in La Liga with Athletic Bilbao and looks a player ready to make the step up to a bigger club.
City haven’t had the best of luck with defensive signing in recent years, bringing in flops such as Eliaquim Mangala, while Nicolas Otamendi and John Stones also initially struggled to settle.
On top of that, City have had their injury problems at the back, largely due to the regular absence of the injury-prone Vincent Kompany.
Laporte could be a superb addition for the league leaders in the middle of the season as they look to bolster their squad for a challenge on four fronts.
Guardiola’s side are in the Carabao Cup final and will be favourites against Arsenal next month, while they also enjoy a strong lead at the top of the Premier League table.
ESPN only recently reported that City remained favourites to beat Manchester United to the transfer of Alexis Sanchez, but it didn’t work out that way.
After lengthy speculation surrounding the Chilean, the club would do well to respond to that and enjoy the boost of bringing in a quality centre-back such as Laporte.