Manchester City star wants to leave club and join Barcelona in the summer - Reports

Manchester City star Aymeric Laporte wants to leave the club and join Barcelona at the end of the season, as per Spanish outlet Mundo Deportivo.

Laporte isn't a regular starter under manager Pep Guardiola and has started just six games in the league this season. The 28-year-old is evidently below John Stones, Ruben Dias, Nathaniel Ake and Manuel Akanji in the pecking order.

Barcelona want a left-footed centre-back, with Marcos Alonso filling in as a centre-half on several occasions this campaign. Laporte wants to leave the Etihad and wants a move to Spotify Camp Nou if he is allowed to leave.

His contract expires at the end of the 2024-25 season, which gives the Cityzens a fair degree of control over his future. Laporte is also versatile enough to play as a left-back as well as a left-sided centre-half in a back-three system.

Manchester City and Barcelona have conducted business in recent seasons, with the Catalan giants signing Sergio Aguero, Eric Garcia and Ferran Torres since the end of the 2020-21 season.

Barca's current options in defense include Andreas Christensen, Jules Kounde, Eric Garcia and Ronald Araujo. They are, however, a man short at the back after Gerard Pique's retirement from football earlier this season.

It remains to be seen what price tag Manchester City will put on Laporte if they let the Spain international leave this summer. They invested heavily in him back in 2018 when they paid £57.2 million in transfer fees to sign him from Athletic Club.

He has prior experience playing in La Liga, where he made 161 league appearances during his time with Los Leones.

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Former Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola lavishes praise on Manchester City star after win vs Newcastle

Bernardo Silva came on in the 65th minute against Newcastle United on March 4 and scored his team's second goal two minutes later to seal a 2-0 win.

The Portugal international earned praise from manager Pep Guardiola after the full-time whistle at the Etihad. The former Barcelona manager said (h/t Official club website):

"Bernardo has never been a top, top scorer or top assists but he helps us to play better. If you want statistics, you can go to big data and write a big article about that.

He added:

"But there are some things that people don’t come to in the data. It’s something that is unique. And Bernardo is unique. To make us, all of us, play better, be aggressive and play our rhythm that we need to play better."

Silva has four goals and five assists for Manchester City in 37 games across competitions this term.