Manchester City Told to Pay the Release Clause for Laporte

It is a well known fact that Manchester City are in the market (yet again) for top class central defenders and as is their wont they are prepared to pay top dollar for the right player, however it seems that they have hit a bit of a road block in their quest to bring Athletic Bilbao's highly rated central defender Aymeric Laporte to the Etihad stadium this summer. Manchester City have been trying to tie up a deal for the hugely talented defender for quite some time and in fact their chief executive had even travelled to Spain in order to thrash out a deal as quickly as possibly but the transfer see seems to be the sticking point in this transfer. According to the latest reports published in the Manchester Evening News, the Spanish club are adamant that they would not going to entertain any bids for the Frenchman that is less than his release clause of £39.2 million and the clubs are thought to be in discussions regarding the point.

Manchester City's incoming manager Pep Guardiola is a long time admirer of the central defender and has made him a top priority for the summer, since he is not convinced with the performances of big money buys Otamendi and Mangala. Laporte is currently recovering from an injury and that could be another reason why City might be bargaining a bit in relation to the asking price.

Bilbao's president Josu Urrutia had this to say about the player and any impending transfer. "Neither Laporte nor any other player has told me he wants to leave Athletic.The way the club works is to give as few clues as possible and work discretely.In these five years I think the message Athletic has put out is that we are not a selling club. With Laporte, or whoever, we treat them so they feel important and valued. He knows he's important for the coach, that his team-mates value him, the fans love him and the board are enamoured with him." This could be a message to City indicating that they would have to pay the right price for the player.