Athletic Club defender and Manchester City target Aymeric Laporte has signed a new five-year deal with the Basque club, the La Liga side have confirmed.
Twitter: .@Laporte ha prolongado su contrato con el Athletic Club hasta 2020. Su cláusula irá ascendiendo hasta los 70M. https://t.co/JCdSBTedlX (@AthleticClub)
Laporte, who missed out on this year’s Euros due to injury, has been strongly linked with City in the past few weeks, with multiple sources reporting a £39.6million deal had already been agreed.
The Frenchman’s previous contract, which he signed just over a year ago, had a release clause of €50million, but the latest deal sees that rise to an initial €65million, with the potential to rise another €5million if a club doesn’t meet it in the next two seasons.
Laporte played 26 times in La Liga last season, scoring three times as Athletic finished fifth in the table. He also made nine appearances in the Europa League as Athletic reached the quarter-finals, only to lose to eventual winners Sevilla on penalties.
The deal isn’t dead for Manchester City just yet, but if they want to get their man, they’ll have to fork out an extra €15million to get him.
