​Incoming Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has made it his priority to strengthen the centre of his defence in the summer, and has plans to bring in Athletic Bilbao and France International Aymeric Laporte.





Transfer negotiations between the clubs have been going on for weeks, and the Spanish club have been reluctant to budge on the £39m release clause in Laporte's contract. Manchester City were hoping to spend around £30m on the player, but ​TalkSport report that according to Cadena SER, Manchester City have gone ahead and met the release clause.

Aymeric Laporte will be a much needed defensive boost to Manchester City, who were mainly unimpressive in this area last season. With the highly injury-prone Vincent Kompany, their best centre-back by a mile, unable to put a good run of games together, Laporte will help to fill the void at the back.

The 22-year-old has had an impressive season for Athletic Bilbao, scoring three goals in 25 appearances. He made two successful tackles per game last season, and is most effective in the clearance department, making 4.8 per game. He's young, but quite commanding in his game - this is definitely something Manchester City needs next season if they aim to win the league. They've lacked real leadership at the back and the feisty Frenchman could be the answer to that.







Having potentially already spent £39m this season, Pep Guardiola's Manchester City are in the lead early on in the spend-fest that will probably break Premier League records this summer.













