Aymeric Laporte hints at transfer exit from Man City with cryptic post after losing place under Pep Guardiola
AYMERIC LAPORTE has hinted at a move away from Manchester City on social media.
The defender has fallen down the pecking order under manager Pep Guardiola and could want a move to earn more game time.
Laporte, 28, has attracted interest from LaLiga giants Barcelona recently.
He has only featured 16 times in all competitions this season, with Guardiola preferring Ruben Dias, John Stones, Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji to the Spanish international.
Laporte has fuelled his exit talk on Instagram as he posted a video of himself in a car on his story.
And it was accompanied by a caption hinting at a move.
He wrote: “After the rain, a rainbow; after a storm, the calm; and after an end, a new beginning.”
However, a move could prove difficult due to the Catalonian side’s financial difficulties.
The club have effectively been hit with a transfer ban this summer because of their inability to rein in costs.
Barca have spent wildly in recent years and tried to balance the books by effectively mortgaging future TV and other incomes by selling off a stake in the club.
BETTING SPECIAL – BEST FOOTBALL BETTING SITES IN THE UK
LaLiga chief executive Javier Tebas, speaking at the FT Business of Football summit in London, confirmed in March: “Barcelona doesn’t have any room in its budget to spend in the upcoming transfer window.
“Barcelona has been involved in questionable behaviour which has had an impact on LaLiga – and we are acting accordingly. We have ruled that they can no longer sign more players.
“We have strict economic controls. At the end of each window, we tell all the clubs in LaLiga what they can spend.
“They have to reduce their investment in players and we have encouraged them to sell players because for every amount they raise in sales they can spend 40 per cent of that.”
This means that if he was to join Barcelona, the club would not be able to register him and he could find himself in footballing limbo.