Transfer target number 15 is Athletic Bilbao's Aymeric Laporte. The Frenchman is a young and upcoming prospect and has already a list the length of your arm of potential suitors.
Picked up from Bayonne in 2010, Laporte is only the second ever Frenchman to play for the Basque club after Bixente Lizarazu. Laporte quickly established himself in the Bilbao first team and made 15 La Liga appearances as well as 2 appearances in the Europa League. At 19 years of age, Laporte continued his form and only missed 3 La Liga games in the 2013/2014 season, mostly down to suspension and regularly played the full 90 minutes.
Onto this season... The 21 year old continued to attract the attention of the big European clubs. He made 49 appearances and was inducted into Squawka's best under 21 XI. Laporte won 9 less duels than the much sought after Diego Godin of Atletico Madrid (196), who is said to be one of the leading defenders in La Liga.
Last campaign, Laporte registered the most interceptions in La Liga, however also registered 4 defensive errors, one of which led to a goal. Standing at 6 foot 2 inches, it was no surprise that he came out on top in more than two-thirds of his headed duels. Impressive statistics for a young man.
On the international scene, he is yet to receive his first call up to France side, but will be knocking on Didier Deschamps' door. He has represented his country at U17, U18, U19 and U21 level. He captained the U19 to the Euro final in 2013 only to lose to Serbia through a Lukovic strike. His U21's Euro campaign culminated in a qualifying play off defeat against eventual tournament winners, Sweden.
Having just signed a new 4 year contract with a €50m release clause at the San Mames Stadium, a transfer is looking inconceivable for another year at the least. Manchester United were rumoured in signing the young centre back, with former team-mate Ander Herrera being the convincer. I'm not convinced this is a player that United need at the back, as an experienced head would prove more beneficial.
It's not just the Manchester club that were rumoured to be interested in the Bilbao player, with AC Milan looking to bolster their defensive line. Similarly, Chelsea and Manchester City are supposedly interested, however no move will be made.
Aymeric Laporte is growing name inside European football, and will continue to grow now that he has signed a new contract with Athletic Bilbao. Hopefully we will see him gracing the world stage at some point and I certainly would not bet against it.
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