Man City star wants Barcelona move

Stuart Telford

• 25 Apr 2023 09:41 BST
• 3 min read

Barcelona have been linked with Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan in recent months, but it is Aymeric Laporte who is ready to force a move to Camp Nou according to reports in Spain.

Barca have been linked with a number of Man City players this season.

Pep Guardiola publicly admitted that Bernardo 'likes Barcelona a lot' last August, but the Portuguese, valued at €76.4 million by FootballTransfers' in-house algorithm, was beyond their financial reach.

READ: Man City star Bernardo Silva's €50m offer

Gundogan is significantly more affordable, the Germany international on a free transfer at the end of the season, but his agent recently moved to announce that reports his player going to Barca were a done deal were false.

But while Bernardo can't and Gundogan perhaps won't go to Barca, Relevo report that Laporte is determined to make the move to Camp Nou.

Barcelona a 'life dream' for Laporte

"Aymeric Laporte isn't happy at Manchester City. He believes his spell in the Premier League is coming to an end and wants to return to Spain. He has a clear objective to fulfil one of his life dreams: to play for Barcelona," they write.

READ: Barcelona ready to activate 'Project Man City' with Laporte transfer

"Laporte knows that his position with City has to be radical [i.e. forcing a transfer], since the English side would, of course, rather sell to a club without such a precarious financial position."

Barcelona have been told by La Liga to reduce their debt by €200m this summer if they want to compete next season, and Laporte, valued at €48.3m by FootballTransfers, still has two years to run on his current deal at the Etihad.

Laporte underwent knee surgery last June but has failed to break back into the team since returning to first-team training in October, with Guardiola preferring Ruben Dias, John Stones, Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake (when the latter two aren't playing full-back) in central defence.