Arsenal targeting out of favor Manchester City defender Aymeric Laporte
Arsenal could be raiding Manchester City again.
According to Spanish publication Mundo Deportivo (via FourFourTwo), Gunners manager Mikel Arteta has informed the club that out of favor City defender Aymeric Laporte is his top defensive target.
Laporte is currently low in the pecking order with the Premier League champions with manager Pep Guardiola preferring the likes of John Stones, Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji.
And with City set to make Josko Gvardiol the most expensive defender in the world, Laporte — who made just 24 appearances in all competitions last season — is said to be after a new challenge.
That new challenge could be a reunion with former City assistant coach Arteta.
The Gunners are likely to stick with their defensive pairing of William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes. However, Laporte could serve as a more than able backup for the duo along with potential new signing Jurrien Timber and Jakub Kiwior.
A big reason for Arsenal’s failure to win the Premier League last season was also a season-ending injury to Saliba with the error-prone Rob Holding deputizing in his absence.
So all in all, it makes sense as to why the Gunners are looking for reinforcements in that position.
Should Laporte join the North London side, he wouldn’t be the first City player to do so in recent times either. The likes of Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko also arrived at the Emirates Stadium last year.
“Why do we sign players from Man City? It’s easy — because they are very good, I know them and worked with them for four years,” Arteta said in a recent interview with Marca. “I wanted Gabriel Jesus and Zinchenko for their amazing talent but also for their ‘human’ skills.”
Perhaps another City player will end up jumping ship soon.
