On this day six years ago, Manchester City did something quite rare by splashing big money on a player in January – and Aymeric Laporte turned out to be one cracking signing.
The star arrived from Athletic Bilbao with City paying around £57 million, which made him the club’s record signing at the time, surpassing Kevin De Bruyne’s £55 million fee.
Laporte was known for being a ball-playing defender and his signing was seen as a real coup, with Pep Guardiola obviously wanting his side to be good at building from the back.
It did not take Laporte too long to impress at City, making 13 appearances in his first half-season at the club. In his first full season at the Etihad, he made a whopping 51 appearances for a total of 4353 minutes, cementing his status as a key player.
But in the 2019/20 season, Laporte sustained a knee injury that limited him to just 20 appearances.
Laporte ended up making 180 appearances in sky blue in total, and had it not been for bad luck with injuries, he would comfortably have surpassed 200. He also chipped in with 12 goals, his most significant coming in the 2021 Carabao Cup final against Tottenham Hotspur in a 1-0 win.
After winning 13 trophies with City he left the club last summer, joining Al Nassr in a reported £23.5 million deal.
Aymeric Laporte responds as Manchester City mark the anniversary of his signing
Laporte was always likely to leave City last summer.
He had not been a regular in the side, with the likes of Nathan Ake, Ruben Dias and Manuel Akanji all above him in the pecking order.
It was time for him to move on, especially with talk of Josko Gvardiol coming in, but plenty of City fans had a heavy heart bidding farewell to him.
Laporte was a top player for City, and was easily one of the best ball-playing defenders the Premier League has seen in recent history.
Not only that, he had a great personality and fans often enjoyed behind-the-scenes content featuring him.
Fans really liked Laporte, and the feeling was mutual. And clearly, City and the fans still hold a place in Laporte’s heart, as he sent a nice message on social media today.
City marked the anniversary of Laporte signing for the club, writing on X: “On this day in 2018, we signed @Laporte.”
Laporte gave a heartfelt 20-word response, writing: “And what an adventure it was. Thanks for the great memories and the warm messages from the fans, really appreciated.”
