OFFICIAL: Man City sign Laporte

On Monday, Basque club Athletic Bilbao posted a farewell message from Laporte on the Twitter feed, saying his €65million ($80 million) release clause had been paid, before he travelled to Manchester to undergo a medical with the Premier League leaders.

Last week, when asked about their pursuit of Laporte, Pep Guardiola remained coy and refused to give anything away, but he has finally signed his man after persuading the Spanish club to part company with the player, who had previously turned down a move to the Etihad in October 2016.

Following a six-year spell in Bilbao, the France Under-21 international has packed his bags after Manchester City paid his £57million release clause, breaking the club's previous transfer record of £55m that they paid for Kevin De Bruyne from Wolfsburg in 2015.

The 23-year-old also becomes the second most expensive defender in history behind Virgil Van Dijk, who cost Liverpool £75 million from Southampton earlier this month. His signing means Guardiola has spent more than £200 million simply on reinforcing his defence alongside the acquisitions of Benjamin Mendy (£52m), John Stones (£47.5m) and Kyle Walker (£45m).

A France international at all youth levels, Laporte has been frustrated at continually being overlooked by senior team coach Didier Deschamps, but he will hope his move to the Etihad can boost his chances of making it into the France World Cup squad.

Defensive reinforcements acquired!

Please #welcomeaymeric to the Club! pic.twitter.com/cDu4FWOKlb

— Manchester City (@ManCity) 30 January 2018

Laporte will wear the No 14 shirt after penning a five-and-a-half-year deal. “I am very happy to be here,” Laporte declared. “City are a Club with a lot of ambition and they are one of the best teams in Europe.

“I am looking forward to working under Pep Guardiola and trying to help the Club to achieve success. It means a lot that the Club have shown faith in me and I am excited to get started.”