Manchester City trigger Aymeric Laporte’s £57m release clause

Their first choice back four will be worth more than £200m.

Manchester City have activated Aymeric Laporte's release clause of £57m, with the Athletic Bilbao set to be announced as a City player imminently. https://twitter.com/AthleticClub/status/957994431176675331 Laporte will be City's most expensive defender, costing more than £47.5m John Stones, £52m Benjamin Mendy and £50m Kyle Walker. He joins Man City just days after Pep Guardiola lamented City's inability to build a squad of 22 'top' players.

"To have 22 top players today, you need money that we don't have." "It's so expensive, you cannot survive", he said.

Guardiola's side are flying high at the top of the Premier League and are about to add another top class defender to their squad, but the City boss insists "there are salaries we cannot pay and there are transfer budgets we cannot pay." It's true, City decided not to fork out the high wages Alexis Sánchez was demanding, which Manchester United took full advantage of. The league leaders, managing their budget carefully, will have to manage with just the one signing this January for a measly £57m. City could really benefit from being bankrolled by an oil rich sugar daddy during this era of hyper inflation and extortionate transfer fees.