Man City accept Al Nassr bid for defender Aymeric Laporte

Manchester City have accepted a bid for Aymeric Laporte to pave the way for their third senior exit of the summer.

Saudi club Al Nassr are now free to discuss terms with the player in the hope of convincing him to leave the Treble winners for a new challenge. Former City teammate Riyad Mahrez has already left this summer to join the emerging league, signing for Al Ahli for £30m.

Laporte has been open to leaving all summer after disappointment at the lack of starts he was given as Pep Guardiola’s side made history last season. However, with a shortage of interest so far in the summer he has trained with the Blues and came off the bench in their Premier League opener at Burnley.

The City defender is currently with the squad in Greece as they prepare to face Sevilla in the Super Cup on Wednesday night. Al Nassr, who boast Cristiano Ronaldo and Sadio Mane in their squad, are hoping to finalise the deal swiftly after kicking off their league campaign this week with a 2-1 defeat by Steven Gerrard’s Al Ettifaq.

City have already lost Mahrez and Ilkay Gundogan this summer and are looking to strengthen in the final two weeks of the window, but may not seek a replacement for Laporte given they have spent £78m to sign promising 21-year-old defender Josko Gvardiol.

Manu Akanji spoke this week of his confidence that Gvardiol will soon show his quality for the Blues, although Guardiola suggested that the Super Cup may be too soon for a full debut given his lack of training with the team so far.