Aymeric Laporte to boost Aston Villa squad as Manchester City transfer speculation emerges
We’re delighted to welcome former Aston Villa full-back Alan Hutton as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at Villa Park…
Aymeric Laporte would increase the quality of the Aston Villa squad but defenders might not be at the top of Unai Emerys’ list right now, according to Alan Hutton.
The Mirror reported on 5 August that Villa are monitoring Laporte’s situation at Manchester City after the 29-year-old centre-back dropped down Pep Guardiola’s pecking order a the Etihad.
It is understood that the £77million signing of Josko Gvardiol has also seen Laporte’s chances of game time decreased further, meaning that the Premier League champions are now ready to cash in on the France-born Spain international.
While Laporte is a five-time Premier League winner with 22 caps for Spain and almost 300 appearances across the English and Spanish top flights, Hutton isn’t sure whether or not his former club needs to sign the ball-playing defender.
Villa have already signed Pau Torres this summer, adding the Spaniard to a centre-back selection at Villa Park consisting of Tyrone Mings, Ezri Konsa, Diego Carlos and Calum Chambers.
Hutton is a fan of Laporte but feels the addition of the exit-linked Man City man would create more selection headaches for Emery.
“Does Laporte make them better? Yes. Does he make the squad stronger? Of course, he does,” Hutton told Villa News.
“How do you fit them all in? That’s the problem.
“It looks like Pau Torres could be moved into more of a left-back role but does he want to play at centre-half? I’m not so sure but I think they’re in a good place at this moment in time.
“Diego Carlos is there as well so they’re quite strong defensively.
“That being said, if you have an opportunity to bring in a player of his quality, would you turn it down? I wouldn’t have thought so.
“Look, they’re in a good position right now and to be linked with players of that quality shows they’re heading in the right direction.“
In other Aston Villa news, a big-money bid has been submitted for this Villa Park ace.