Chelsea are interested in acquiring the services of 29-year-old Manchester City defender Aymeric Laporte and have enquired about him.
According to Rudy Galetti via GIVEMESPORT, Chelsea are considering making a move for Aymeric Laporte. The 29-year-old Manchester City defender’s future is uncertain, and he is expected to be on the move in the ongoing transfer window.
Laporte joined Manchester City back in the winter of 2018. Pep Guardiola’s team paid a reported fee of £57 million to acquire him from Athletic Club. He had an instant impact on the team and managed to establish himself as a regular starter.
While the 29-year-old has surely done wonders for the club and won major titles for them, injuries have not helped his cause. In recent years, his game time has started to decline, and he is no longer a guaranteed starter under Guardiola.
Laporte made only 24 appearances for the first team in the recently-concluded season as Manchester City won the treble. He was on the pitch for just over 1,800 minutes. The 29-year-old is not happy with the limited game time and despite having two years left on his deal, the Spain international is expected to push for a move away from the club.
Meanwhile, Chelsea could be a potential destination for the former Athletic Club defender. The Blues are looking to strengthen their team ahead of next season. They have already offloaded quite a few players and raised a significant amount of funds to sign new players.
While Laporte is a part of their transfer target list, signing a new defender is not their priority at this point in time. They already have Thiago Silva, Wesley Fofana, Benoît Badiashile and Levi Colwill in their ranks. Trevoh Chalobah is also part of their squad, but he is likely to part ways ahead of next season.
Galetti said, “Aymeric Laporte is among the names on the list of Chelsea as a possible reinforcement this summer. No talks are ongoing to date. Chelsea’s aim is to strengthen other roles but, in the past weeks, the Blues requested info on him.”
With Mauricio Pochettino likely to go ahead with a back four, they do not really need to sign another defender. And, at this point in time, Chelsea are not holding any talks with City or the player over a potential deal. But they did enquire about him a few weeks back. In a situation where one of their important defenders leaves, they could go ahead and sign Laporte to fill that void.
