Manchester City have signed French defender Aymeric Laporte from Athletic Bilbao for a club record fee of £57m.
The fee for Laporte, yet to win a cap for France, takes spending by Premier League clubs to £252m this month – a record for a January transfer window.
The 23-year-old’s arrival takes City manager Pep Guardiola’s spending on defenders and a goalkeeper since the end of last season to £215.5m.
The club’s previous record fee was the £55m paid for Kevin de Bruyne in 2015.
The centre-back has played 19 times for France at Under-21 level.
“I am looking forward to working under manager Pep Guardiola and trying to help the club to achieve success,” he told the City website.
“It means a lot that the club have shown faith in me and I am excited to get started.”
Injury concern over skipper Vincent Kompany and uncertainty over the reliability of Eliaquim Mangala led Guardiola to believe he required another central defender in addition to current first choices John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi.
City’s defensive spending 2017-18
Benjamin Mendy (left-back) – £52m
Ederson (goalkeeper) – £35m
Kyle Walker (right-back) – £45m
Danilo (full-back) – £26.5m
Aymeric Laporte (centre-back) – £57m
Source:BBC
