Man City defender dreams of joining Barcelona; Milan, Juventus, Newcastle also interested

Aymeric Laporte’s stint at Manchester City may soon be coming to an end as the Spaniard keeps falling down the pecking order in Pep Guardiola’s team.

Once an undisputed starter, the 28-year-old is currently backup to John Stones, Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake, Kyle Walker, and Manuel Akanji. He has registered eight games across the Premier League season, with his last two coming two months from each other.

Laporte has, according to rumours, made his decision to leave the club in the summer, with several parties interested in his signature. AC Milan, Juventus, and Newcastle United are closely keeping tabs on him, but the player has other ideas, apparently.

If Mundo Deportivo is to be believed, Laporte dreams of joining Barcelona in the summer. The player will face a few hurdles en route to achieving his dreams, though.

One, Barcelona already have a fair few centre-backs in their squad. Xavi is currently rotating between Ronald Araujo, Jules Kounde, Andreas Christensen, Marcos Alonso, and Eric Garcia in the team, with Inigo Martinez expected to join the club on a Bosman move in the summer.

Further, signing Laporte will consume a ton of Barcelona’s budget in the summer. The Catalans already have to reduce their wage bill by over €200 million, and will likely prioritise other targets over the Man City defender.

That said, there has been news recently that has suggested that Laporte would be willing to reduce his wages to push a move to Barcelona.

Barcelona are looking at other positions now after signing Inigo, such as left-wing, defensive midfield, central midfield, and possibly right-back.

Athletic Club, too, are interested in bringing back Laporte, but his salary of approximately €6.5 million will hinder the operation.

As it stands, it seems highly unlikely that Barcelona will jump on the train to sign Laporte even though he is reportedly highly-rated at the club.