City eye record bid for French defender Laporte, says report

Highly-regarded French defender Aymeric Laporte could become runaway Premier League leaders Manchester City's record signing according to British media reports on Thursday.

Man City are closing in on the signing of Aymeric Laporte from Athletic Bilbao, sources have confirmed to ESPN FC: https://t.co/MrDrQufuqD pic.twitter.com/Gp1QLuReY4

— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) January 25, 2018

The 23-year-old centre-back -- who has been at Athletic Bilbao since he was 16 -- would cost City £57m ($81m) owing to a release clause in his contract at Bilbao but would resolve a problematic area for manager Pep Guardiola  where veteran Vincent Kompany is injury-prone and Frenchman Eliaquim Mangala has not impressed.

£44m Raheem Sterling
£45m Kyle Walker
£47.5m John Stones
£52m Benjamin Mendy
£55m Kevin de Bruyne

Man City are set to break their transfer record again.

More on their pursuit of Aymeric Laporte: https://t.co/Ih2r0z59wY pic.twitter.com/KWuVEGLCir

— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) January 25, 2018

Laporte -- whose move reportedly would be dependent on Mangala moving on -- would provide cover for present first-choice pairing England international John Stones and Argentinian Nicolas Otamendi. According to The Sun and the BBC, Guardiola favours investing that amount in Laporte -- who has yet to win a senior France cap though he was called up for two 2018 World Cup qualifiers -- than spending around £24m on rivals West Bromwich Albion's 30-year-old Northern Irish central defender Jonny Evans. City's current transfer record is £55m. They paid VfL Wolfsburg for Belgian international Kevin de Bruyne in 2015.

Manchester City are reportedly closing in on a £57M deal for Aymeric Laporte, per @TelegraphSport https://t.co/570UbH5ZK3 pic.twitter.com/8Yct005hPK

— B/R Football (@brfootball) January 25, 2018