Manchester City remain hopeful of signing defender Aymeric Laporte from Athletic Bilbao for a club-record fee of £57 million, but Pep Guardiola refused to give a public update on the transfer.
“No, I can’t. He’s a player for Athletic Bilbao. If it happens, it happens. If not, then it doesn’t,” said Guardiola.
“We will try to do the best for the squad, for now, for the next six months, and for the years to come.
“If we can going to do something interesting now, we’ll do it now. If not, then we’ll do it in the summer.
“If not in the summer, we’ll stick with the guys who’ve done amazingly.”
Laporte has been a long-term target for the Premier League leaders, although he’s also occasionally been linked with some of Europe’s biggest clubs. Both Real Madrid and Barcelona have previously been named as potential destinations, as have PSG.
The 23-year-old revealed last summer that he had snubbed moves to the Premier League, with both City and Chelsea having rumouredly expressed interest, only for Laporte to decide he wanted to stay at Athletic.
Laporte is a superb signing and one for now, and also the future. €65million is a lot of money but there’s a player for 7-10 years in there. Well done City and Txiki if they get this over the line.
— Shane Burns (@ShaneBurns_) January 23, 2018
However, the Frenchman also said he may look to move in the future in order to boost his chances of being selected by his national team, so Guardiola may have better luck if he tries to sign the young defender this month or in the summer.
City have yet to sign anyone this window, as they go into the second half of the season with a 12-point lead in the league and a Carabao Cup final date with Arsenal coming up next month. They face Basel in the Round of 16 of the Champions League, and play Cardiff City on Sunday in the fourth round of the FA Cup.
