Daily Times

NEW YORK CITY: Aymeric Laporte says he was “jealous” watching France win the World Cup as his international tug-of-war with Spain continues. The £57 million French-born Manchester City defender, who is of Basque descent and qualifies for Spanish residency having spent eight years at Athletic Bilbao, represented Les Bleus at youth level but failed to make a senior appearance. Now new Spanish manager Luis Enrique is keen for him to join his squad ahead of the Euro 2020 qualifiers. Two years ago while at Bilbao, Laporte was urged by then Spanish manager Julen Lopetegui to explore the possibility of switching nationalities. He was then called up by France and declared his intentions to play for the country of his birth. But a failure to find a way into Deschamps’ plans has seen Enrique urge him to change his mind, according to a report in Mundo Deportivo this week. Spain’s disappointing showing at the World Cup together with the search for a ball-playing defender to eventually replace the likes of Sergio Ramos and Gerard Pique has intensified the move for Laporte. Aymeric declined to comment on his international future when asked about the Spanish reports during City’s pre-season tour of the United States. But the 24-year-old acknowledged he had conflicting emotions while watching France win the World Cup.

Published in Daily Times, July 24^th 2018.