Gary Neville told ITV during their Euro 2020 coverage (23/06/21 at 4:45 pm) that he thought Tottenham-linked, Aymeric Laporte, was going to be ‘one of the best’ defenders in the world by now.
The TV pundit claimed that he is ‘shocked’ that Laporte, who has now seemingly been offered to Tottenham, as reported by Fabrizio Romano, hasn’t kicked on during this past season.
It was Ruben Dias and John Stones who were Manchester City’s main centre-backs during their Premier League title win, despite Laporte previously being a regular.
And Neville, who first encountered the France-born Spain international when he was managing Valencia, had this to say about the player.
“I played against Athletic Bilbao three times when I was in Valencia and he played,” said Neville. “And he was absolutely outstanding.
“I just thought that he would be one of the best centre-backs in the world when Man City bought him.
“What has shocked me is that this season he has not gone on. I thought when Ruben Dias came that he would be the partner, Laporte.
“But Stones has emerged and seems to be number one, so he just has got a little work to do to get back on track.”
Only 18 months ago, it could have been argued that Laporte was Man City’s main man at the back.
But the £57 million player (BBC Sport) now finds himself on Pep Guardiola’s bench and rumours surfacing this summer that he could be used as part of a swap deal.
With Man City seemingly trying to sign Harry Kane, a number of Man City players, including Laporte could possibly be used to entice Spurs chairman, Daniel Levy, to accept a £100 million + players offer for the Englishman.
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