Manchester City: Laporte to play for Spain NT at Euros
Aymeric Laporte has usually been a great centre-back choice for Manchester City. He plays well, he reads the opposition really well and is not too aggressive or anything like that. He’s an intelligent centre-back that doesn’t really make many mistakes.
The problem for him — something that’s been prevalent throughout his career from Bilbao to City — has been injuries. He gets injured way too often, and because of that the team suffers.
This reason (and, of course, the brilliant form of Ruben Dias and John Stones) has made him fall down in the pecking order. He’s no longer a top-choice centre-back for his club, having just made 27 appearances for the club this season.
What’s the situation with Laporte and his national team?
Laporte isn’t a top choice for his current national team — France, either. In fact, he hasn’t earned a single cap for the World Champions.
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That is really surprising, even with all the injury problems he’s had throughout his career. Well, to be honest, at the same time, it’s not surprising at all.
Injured or not, he’s not the only good centre-back that France have at their disposal. There are players like Raphael Varane, Clement Lenglet, Presnel Kimpembe Dayot Upamecano, that are just as talented, maybe even more.
And so, according to reports from MARCA and L’Equipe, Laporte has decided that he wants to play for the Spanish National Team at the Euros.
Official confirmation should arrive shortly, according to said reports. He will be able to do that since he spent eight years in Spain with Bilbao.
From the point of view of Span’s football team, this is excellent news.
They have been looking for centre-backs that can partner Sergio Ramos at the back ever since Gerard Pique announced his retirement from International Football.
They’ve mostly relied on Villarreal centre-back Pau Torres, who has honestly been a great choice so far. But, I feel that with Laporte, it’s better to have him as a starter instead of Pau Torres because of the sheer experience he has of playing the big games so regularly.
Yes, Laporte hasn’t exactly been the fittest player of all time, but playing at Manchester City is slightly more competitive than playing at Villarreal. No offense to Villarreal of course, they’re a great team but we’re talking about the English champions here, you know?
Moreover, even if you talk about overall experience, Laporte has more of it and would be a great choice for the Spanish national side.
Beware, Pau Torres is having an excellent season with Villarreal and could still start ahead of Laporte, if this ever happens.
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It would be a problem for Luis Enrique to choose between the two centre-backs. But, you know, it’s a good problem to have. Let’s see what happens.