Disgruntled Man City star ‘dreams’ of joining Barcelona, willing to reduce wages

According to journalist Sergio Fernandez, Manchester City defender Aymeric Laporte has grown unhappy at the club and wants to leave in the summer in favour of a transfer to FC Barcelona.

Laporte has fallen out of favour under Pep Guardiola at the Etihad Stadium this season, with the Man City manager preferring the likes of Manuel Akanji, Ruben Dias, John Stones, and Nathan Ake over him.

It has left the Spanish international disgruntled and wanting to secure an exit at the end of the season. And as per the report, Laporte is seeking a return back to his homeland as he dreams of joining Barcelona.

Laporte currently earns around €6.5 million per year at Manchester City and is understood to be willing to lower his salary in order to secure a move to Spotify Camp Nou.

Furthermore, the former Athletic Club defender parted ways with his previous agent in November last year and is said to be close to appointing Arturo Canales as his new representative.

Interestingly, Canales happens to be the representative of Barça manager Xavi Hernandez as well and Laporte could look to capitalise on that connection to try and engineer a transfer.

However, several factors are against this potential operation in the summer. For starters, Manchester City would prefer to sell Laporte to a club in a better financial health than Barcelona so that they can get the maximum amount from his sale.

With Barcelona already reportedly agreeing to sign Inigo Martinez for free, a move for Laporte is not a priority at the moment. And they would only consider making an attempt to sign him late in the window, depending on the Financial Fair Play situation. But the defender is unwilling to wait until late August to decide his future.

As things stand, though, Laporte has made it clear that joining Barcelona is his priority for the summer. However, he also has other suitors such as AC Milan, Juventus and his former employers Athletic Club, who would be delighted to welcome him back.

So, while he insists on a move to Barcelona, the Spaniard could opt to choose any of the aforementioned teams in case there is a delay on the Catalans part in making a move for him.