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Just signed a new contract through 2025!

https://www.mancity.com/news/first-team ... news-story

Great news. A class act

Weird why he's got an extension when he's only been here a year. Must have only been on £100k a year poor guy

Saw him on his debut. Great player. Has earned his extension at higher pay.

Best defender at the club, great to see he'll be around for awhile

Excellent report and appraisal of him in the Times today.

Mase wrote:Weird why he's got an extension when he's only been here a year

I'll never understand why clubs do this.

Saul Goodman wrote:

Mase wrote:Weird why he's got an extension when he's only been here a year

I'll never understand why clubs do this.

Perhaps if you look at the Times report on him you might understand why .

zuricity wrote:

Saul Goodman wrote:

Mase wrote:Weird why he's got an extension when he's only been here a year

I'll never understand why clubs do this.

Perhaps if you look at the Times report on him you might understand why .

Got a link mate?

Dubciteh wrote:

zuricity wrote:

Saul Goodman wrote:

Mase wrote:Weird why he's got an extension when he's only been here a year

I'll never understand why clubs do this.

Perhaps if you look at the Times report on him you might understand why .

Got a link mate?

It was in yesterday's printed edition. I don't subscribe online.

Aymeric Laporte: Arrogant perfectionist who became Pep Guardiola’s key defender at Manchester City
France have overlooked the defender but the Premier League champions can’t do without him

Paul Hirst
February 23 2019, 12:01am,
The Times

Laporte has been described as a “loner” but he has been central to City’s title challenge

It is fair to say that not every one of Aymeric Laporte’s new team-mates took an immediate liking to him when he completed his £57 million transfer to Manchester City from Athletic Bilbao in January last year.

“What do you reckon? What do you make of him?” they would ask each other in the dressing room.

Laporte, you see, is not a man who minces his words. If the 24-year-old Frenchman thinks you have not performed to a high standard, he will tell you so. It would be wrong to say that he was disliked at the start — the City dressing room is a harmonious place — but it certainly took a little while for the players to get used to Laporte’s personality. Some felt he was simply too arrogant.

Now he is universally accepted. Laporte’s team-mates understand that his arrogance comes as a result of his push for perfection, his desire to realise his dream of becoming the best centre back in the world and win a lot of silverware along the way.

Laporte has every reason to be self-assured. Save for Virgil van Dijk, he has been the best centre half in the Premier League this season.

For that reason City have opened negotiations with Laporte over a new contract — one he is expected to sign — even though his present deal has four and a half years left to run. Even though Brahim Díaz, his best friend, left City for Real Madrid last month, he is happy where he is.

“I feel really comfortable here,” Laporte, who lives in a flat in Manchester city centre, said.

“It’s something really great that is happening for me in these moments. The decision I made [to join City] was the right one and I’m growing as a footballer and as a person. I’m very happy.”

Laporte, or “Ayme” (eye-may) as he is known to his team-mates, has regular English classes and is confident enough to conduct interviews in English. Ask those in the know at City and they will tell you that Laporte has exceeded Pep Guardiola’s expectations. The City manager knew that Laporte was good — he tried and failed to sign him in his first summer at City — but he did not know that he was this good.

Club insiders rate him as one of the best five central defenders in the world and it is hard to disagree. Laporte has brought authority, strength, superb passing and goals to City this season. Without his performances, City’s dreams of winning the quadruple would not be alive. He is the only outfield player to have played in all 27 of their league matches.

Guardiola’s staff point out that had it not been for the defender’s goals against Lyons and Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League group stage, City might have finished second and drawn Barcelona in the last 16 rather than Schalke.

The most important aspect of Laporte’s play, though, has been his passing. Guardiola’s coaches rate him as one of the best passers in the squad, which is a significant statement given that Laporte shares a dressing room with Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva.

It is hard to think of a centre back who is more suited to Guardiola’s playing style, which is based on building from the back. Laporte has completed 2,133 passes in the league this season, which is more than any other player.

He is just as good at collecting the ball from the goalkeeper Ederson and playing it short to the full backs as he is pinging the ball 60 yards through the channels. He lines up in defence, but Laporte is a de facto playmaker, another potent attacking weapon in a team already armed to the teeth.

He is a tough cookie, too. Laporte has had several minor injuries and pains this season, but each time that Guardiola has asked him if he is OK to play, the answer has been “yes”.

There is, however, one puzzling thing about Laporte that has left everyone scratching their heads. Why has he not yet been capped for France? He was born in Agen and has played 51 times in France’s youth teams but on one occasion he publicly discussed the idea of declaring for Spain during his five and a half years in Bilbao.

Laporte has made more passes than any other player in the Premier League so far this season

Didier Deschamps, the France coach, called up Laporte in 2016 for the World Cup qualifiers against Bulgaria and Holland but did not play him in either match. Laporte has closed the door on Spain. He is no longer eligible for a Spanish passport anyway as he no longer lives there, but he is profoundly disappointed at being overlooked by France.

Deschamps is keen on squad unity and there is a perception within the France set-up that Laporte is not a team player. “He is a loner,” Pierre Mankowski, one of Deschamps’ assistants, said three months ago. “He is a good professional who has problems integrating into a group.”

Those who work with Laporte at City dismiss this claim, pointing out that the player eventually had no trouble mixing with the group or developing a strong friendship with Díaz. They were an odd pairing on first sight. Laporte is a tall, serious macho man while Díaz is a short, fun-loving teenager from Málaga, but they were always in each other’s company.

Díaz would go round to Laporte’s flat to play video games. During international breaks they would sometimes fly off to Mykonos, in Greece, together. They were so close that when Díaz gave a farewell speech to the entire squad and staff last month at the City Football Academy, tears streamed down Laporte’s face.

Little annoys Laporte more than talking about his international isolation. His mood sours if he is asked about it in media interviews.

He could be a world champion now but Laporte is behind Raphaël Varane, Samuel Umtiti, Adil Rami, Presnel Kimpembe and even Mamadou Sakho, the Crystal Palace defender, in the pecking order. Matt Spiro, the France-based journalist, says that Deschamps likes to keep faith with his bon soldats (good soldiers) who helped France qualify for — and win — the World Cup. “Deschamps is very loyal with players who serve him well,” Spiro said. “Sakho’s recent club performances pale in comparison to those of Laporte but Sakho has always performed well for Deschamps.

“Nobody believes Adil Rami is a better defender than Laporte but Rami went to the World Cup and despite being the only outfield player not to feature, he was a hugely positive presence. There are some doubts with regards to Laporte’s attitude too.”

Despite his excellent form, do not be surprised if Deschamps omits Laporte from his squad for France’s matches against Moldova and Iceland in a couple of weeks’ time. That will frustrate Laporte even more but France’s loss is City’s gain.

Rock at the back
2,337 Minutes played by Laporte in the Premier League this season, the most by an outfield Man City player
2,133 Passes by Laporte in the Premier League, more than any other player in the top flight
92.22 Percentage of his passing accuracy, the third-best of any Premier League player to have completed more than 1,000 passes this season (John Stones 93.9 per cent, Mateo Kovacic 92.64 per cent)
281 Successful passes by Laporte that have finished in the final third of the pitch, the most by any centre back and 97 more than his closest rival, David Luiz of Chelsea
2,592 Touches of the ball by the centre back in the league, more than any other player

^^^^^^

Nice one ! cheers

And he still can't get in the France squad Deschamps is a fuckin mutant

Sounds like Guardiola, telling people when they are a cunt.

Good old Visigothic name Aymeric sounds like - just as well conduct yourself like one!

Mase wrote:And he still can't get in the France squad Deschamps is a fuckin mutant

French Mase , what do you expect . they can't win their own Tour de France , but still wear Yellow shirts every weekend like Scousers wear shell suits!.

Great cheers for that lads.

Future captain?

I already think he is the best left sided centre half in the world.

I said it earlier in the thread but thank fuck we didnt get evans, the difference is unbelievable.

Dubciteh wrote:Great cheers for that lads.

Future captain?

I already think he is the best left sided centre half in the world.

I said it earlier in the thread but thank fuck we didnt get evans, the difference is unbelievable.

I hear Mangala is back in training, talking of left cbs

zuricity wrote:^^^^^^

Nice one ! cheers

Indeed. Sounds a decent fella. Got the performances and stats to back him up as well

Needs to up his game today.

zuricity wrote:

Saul Goodman wrote:

Mase wrote:Weird why he's got an extension when he's only been here a year

I'll never understand why clubs do this.

Perhaps if you look at the Times report on him you might understand why .

Just read it and I still dont understand why.

I understand how good he is...but that's even more incentive for the club not to extend his contract (yet). You milk a few more years of a top-class CB on lower wages that he deserves; thats a good thing for the club. then you extend when he's got 1.5 yrs left on his deal. plus, you never know, maybe he gets a horrific injury and never recovers his form.