Manchester City transfer news: Aymeric Laporte signs new four-year Athletic Bilbao contract - with £52m clause
The 22-year-old Frenchman was highlighted as a priority target by Guardiola this summer
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Your support makes all the difference.Athletic Bilbao have confirmed Aymeric Laporte, the defender targeted by Manchester City, has signed a new four-year deal - with a release clause of €65m (£52m).
The 22-year-old Frenchman was highlighted as a priority target by new City manager Pep Guardiola this summer but appears destined to remain at San Mamés until 2020 with a release clause which will rise to €70m in 2018.
Despite suffering a fractured ankle while on duty with the France under-21s sides in March, Guardiola hoped to line Laporte alongside either current captain Vincent Kompany or Everton centre-back John Stones next season.
The Catalonian manager will now have to switch his focus elsewhere, however, after the Spanish club announced on Twitter that the player has agreed fresh terms last night.
Meanwhile, new £20m signing İlkay Gündoğan, from Borussia Dortmund, has confirmed that he may recover from a knee injury in time for the start of the 2016/17 campaign.
The 25-year-old Germany international said: “I hope to be fit by the end of August or first week of September. You can’t be absolutely sure and we have to gauge it week by week but that’s my target and, if everything goes to plan, it will be August.
“I may miss a couple of matches but that’s fine because I want to be ready for when I play my first game.”
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