Aymeric Laporte, the ideal partner for Pau Cubarsí in the heart of the defence of a Spain side crowned World Cup champions, offered his services to Barcelona during the final stage of the tournament.
Barcelona rate the Athletic Bilbao defender highly, thanks to his quality and his strong showings with La Roja at the World Cup, which extended a long career. Even so, he does not feature in the plans of the club’s sporting management for the 2026-2027 season, according to the Catalan newspaper “Mundo Deportivo”.
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Hansi Flick feels no pressing need to reinforce the defence. He already has enough options, provided no players leave.
The German also trusts Gerard Martín completely as an option at left-back. His squad includes Eric García, Andreas Christensen and Ronald Araújo, should the latter stay, alongside Jules Koundé and the young defender Álvaro Cortés.
Barça fears trouble
The information reaching Barcelona says Laporte’s contract carries no release clause. Signing him would mean entering direct negotiations with Athletic Bilbao, given that the player is tied to the Basque club until 2028.
Barcelona want no more headaches after the crises of the Nico Williams saga in the summers of 2024 and 2025, and that represents an additional obstacle to any move for Laporte.
The French-Basque defender already sat on Barcelona’s agenda during Luis Enrique’s spell in charge, but Athletic refused to negotiate with the Catalan club, pointing only to the value of the release clause in his contract, which stood at 65 million euros. Manchester City eventually paid that amount to sign him in January 2018.
During his time in England, Laporte tried to edge closer to Barcelona on more than one occasion. The Blaugrana’s financial constraints scuppered the deal every time, before Laporte ended up at Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia during the 2023-2024 season.
In September 2025, the defender returned to Athletic and resumed his career at the San Mamés stadium.