Cristiano Ronaldo's Al-Nassr teammate has asked to leave the club this summer amid links to La Liga giants - Reports
Cristiano Ronaldo's Al-Nassr could well be about to lose one of their star players this summer. Aymeric Laporte has reportedly asked to leave the club, having joined them just last year from Manchester City.
Ronaldo's switch to Al-Nassr in December 2022 opened the floodgates for high-profile transfers to the Saudi Pro League. Laporte was among a host of big-name players to have made the switch to Saudi Arabia in the summer of 2023, joining them in a reported €27.5 million move.
Now, the Spain international wants to leave Faris Najd, as per Rudy Galetti. The journalist added that the club are open to serious offers and while some bids have arrived, none have met their demands.
Galetti's tweet reads:
"Aymeric #Laporte asked #AlNassr to be let go during this transfer session. The [Saudi] club is open to evaluating his departure, but only for consistent offers. As told, some proposals have arrived, but none considered adequate so far."
A previous tweet from Galetti claimed that Al-Nassr rejected a $14 million (€13 million) offer from an unnamed Spanish club. According to the journalist, the Saudi club want to sell him permanently instead of loaning him out, with two years still left on his contract.
Laporte had a decent debut campaign with Al-Nassr, scoring four times in 27 league matches and helping keep eight clean sheets as his team finished runners-up. He most recently featured at the 2024 UEFA Euros, where he starred in his team's title-winning run with helping keep two clean sheets in six appearances.
Cristiano Ronaldo's Al-Nassr teammate already talked about adjustment problems in SPL
Back in January this year, Aymeric Laporte opened up about the problems he faced adjusting to the Saudi Pro League. His primary qualm seemed related to contract issues — he signed a €505,000-a-week deal at the club last year, as per CBS (via GOAL).
Speaking to AS (via CBS), the 30-year-old former Athletic Bilbao star said:
"It's a big change compared to Europe, but in the end it's all adaptation. They haven't made it easy for us. In fact, there are many players who are dissatisfied, but hey; we are working on it every day, negotiating so to speak, and seeing if it improves a little because this is something new for them too, having European players who already have a long career.
"Maybe they are not used to this and have to adapt to a little more seriousness... You negotiate something and then they don't accept it after you have signed it."
As far as transfers go, Al-Nassr have already signed 25-year-old Bento from Athletico Paranaense for a reported €18 million. They have also seen six departures, most notably that of goalkeeper David Ospina.
It remains to be seen if they will react to Laporte's potential exit, given he is arguably the only high-profile player they have at centre-back.