Reports | Aymeric Laporte to switch allegiance from France to Spain ahead of Euro 2020
Aymeric Laporte played for France at the youth level
|According to Goal, Manchester City defender Aymeric Laporte is set to switch allegiances from France to Spain so that he can play at the postponed Euro 2020. The 26-year-old played for Les Blues at the youth level but has struggled to break into the senior team for the 2018 World Cup winners.
While many consider Aymeric Laporte to be one of the best defenders in the world, the Frenchman has had a tough time playing for Manchester City this season. John Stones’ resurrection into a full-blown first-team star for the club combined with Ruben Dias’ arrival has seen Laporte struggle to play consistently for the team. However, the 26-year-old is still considered to be one of the best in the world although he has struggled to earn a single cap for France’s national team.
That has seen Goal report that the Spanish Football Federation has lodged paperwork with FIFA in order to allow Laporte to play for Spain at the postponed Euro 2020 this summer. The report has indicated that the 26-year-old is unhappy at not having played even once for Les Blues despite representing France at every youth level. That combined with his Basque descent, via his great grandparents, and his dual French and Spanish nationality does allow him to represent La Furia Roja.
However, while the move is subject to approval by FIFA, reports have indicated that Laporte is unhappy with France head coach Didier Deschamps. The World Cup winning coach has a catalogue of some of the world’s best defenders at his disposal which has seen Laporte and a few others not picked over the years. The 26-year-old has even accused Deschamps, in the past, of leaving him out due to personal reasons, a claim that the France head coach later denied.
