Aymeric Laporte, the ideal partner for Pau Cubarsi in the heart of the defense of the Spanish national team crowned with the World Cup, offered his services to Barcelona during the final stage of the tournament.
The Athletic Bilbao defender is highly regarded, thanks to his quality and the strong performances he delivered with "La Roja" in the World Cup, extending a long career, but despite that he does not fall within the plans of Barcelona's sporting management for the 2026-2027 season, according to the Catalan newspaper "Mundo Deportivo".
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Coach Hans Flick does not feel an urgent need to bolster the defense, given that he has a sufficient number of options, in case players do not depart.
The German also fully trusts Gerard Martin as an option at left-back. The squad also includes Eric Garcia, Andreas Christensen, and Ronald Araujo in case he does not leave, alongside Jules Kounde and the young defender Alvaro Cortes.
Barca fears crises
Moreover, the information that reached Barcelona indicates that Laporte's contract does not include a release clause, which means signing him would require entering into direct negotiations with Athletic Bilbao, given the player's link to the Basque club until 2028.
Barcelona does not want to enter into further problems, after the crises witnessed in the Nico Williams file during the summers of 2024 and 2025, which represents an additional obstacle to any attempt to sign Laporte.
The French-Basque defender was already on Barcelona's agenda during Luis Enrique's tenure coaching the team, but Athletic did not want to negotiate with the Catalan club, content to point to the release clause in the player's contract, which amounted to 65 million euros. In the end, Manchester City paid this amount to sign him in January 2018.
During his time in England, Laporte also tried to get closer to Barcelona on more than one occasion, but the financial constraints suffered by the Blaugrana prevented the deal from being completed, before Laporte ended up at Al-Nassr during the 2023-2024 season.
In September 2025, the defender returned to Athletic, to resume his career at San Mames Stadium.
