'Deschamps has a problem with me, that's why I'm not playing for France'

The 24-year-old has shone in the Premier League to far this season, quickly becoming a vital part of Pep Guardiola's City side.

Such has been his form that he and John Stones are now seen as City's first-choice centre-back pairing ahead of Nicolas Otamendi and Vincent Kompany.

However, despite a string of impressive performances, Laporte has still yet to feature for his country, something the player himself blames on one man and one man only: Didier Deschamps.

"That question only has one answer: there is a coach and he doesn't call me, so I need to wait, to keep working and that's it," he told 'EiTB'.

"Of course I don't think it's because of a sporting issue, you'd have to ask him personally, I don't have anything personal against him, but if someone has a problem it's him and not me.

"I could be a world champion... but these are the decisions of the coach, who is not calling me for, I think, personal reasons, and I have to respect him.

"I'm not going to call him. Why? To slam him? No, obviously not. I'm still working in the club, playing at the highest level for this kind of thing [an international call-up]... the only person who can solve this is the coach."

His continued omission form the France squad had lead to suggestions that Laporte could switch allegiance to Spain, but the £57m man doesn't appear to be planning on doing so any time soon.

"Play with Spain. I think that's already closed, but even so I opt for France because I'm French, I don't have dual citizenship and I'm not going to ask for it,' he insisted.