Manchester City star breaks down in tears after lifting Premier League trophy amid rumors of summer exit: Reports
Aymeric Laporte was seen in tears on the pitch after Manchester City lifted the Premier League title at the Etihad. The Spaniard has been linked with an exit, and he is likely to rejoin his former side, Athletic Bilbao.
As per a report in Daily Mail, Manchester City will not stop Laporte from leaving should he decide to call time on his career at the Etihad. The club are only interested in keeping players who are fully committed to the club, and that was the main reason for the loan move of Joao Cancelo to Bayern Munich.
We love you, @Laporte! 🥺💙
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Laporte was linked with an exit last summer too, but he rebuffed those claims. He was quoted by Sky Sports as saying:
"Yes [I am staying this season]," Laporte said. "I'm super happy and fit. The team too. There remains only the common objective - the Champions League - but we will do everything to [win] it this year."
He added:
"For now, that's not the goal. I still have three years of [my] contract. I'm happy and the club [are] too. I played a lot of minutes [last season]: I am the central defender who had the most [games]. I am a reference and I am very happy that the coach and Manchester City have confidence in me. So why not go on for a long time?"
However, this season, he has not given a concrete answer when asked about his future.
Laporte had a glorious run with the Cityzens. He was part of five Premier League-winning campaigns with the team. Along with this, he also won one FA Cup and one FA Community Shield title with Manchester City. Three EFL Cup titles are also on his resume with the same team.
The one title that he couldn't capture with City was the Champions League. He came close in the 2020-21 season, but his team lost to 1-0 to Chelsea in the final.
Aymeric Laporte hints at Manchester City exit
Aymeric Laporte has hinted that it might be time for him to leave Manchester City. He has not spoken about the contract length, nor has he claimed that he wants to stay. He was quoted by Manchester Evening News as saying earlier this month:
"City for me is everything. I have only played for two clubs in my career. Athletic Bilbao, the team before City, I love this team too. They said to come here and since the first day, I realised that it was something very special and I wanted to come here to win many, many trophies and make history with this club as long as I can.
He added, crediting Erling Haaland for his prolific form:
"Maybe the one thing that has changed from the other years is we have a machine up front who is scoring goals in every game, which is making our job easier."
Bilbao are likely to be Laporte's destination as he has not been linked with another club. However, Barcelona were rumored to be interested in the Spaniard, who changed his nationality from France. But nothing came of it.
Manchester City signed Laporte from Bilbao for a then club-record £57 million in 2018. He has gone on to play 177 matches for the Cityzens and scored 12 goals. He holds the record for earning the most number of points (254) after Didier Drogba and teammate Ederson in his first 100 Premier League games.
However, he still has more matches under his belt for Bilbao, where he scored 10 goals in 222 appearances.