Barcelona Transfers: Top 5 replacements for Gerard Pique

#1 Aymeric Laporte of Manchester City

Manchester City’s Aymeric Laporte has been heavily linked with a move to the Nou Camp. His close friend at City Eric Garcia has already moved to the Catalan side for a free transfer this season. According to many trusted journalists such as Manchester’s Sam Lee, it is the player’s intention to leave Man City and head out for a new venture. The player is reportedly keen on joining Barcelona as a possible destination.

Just recently Laporte had switched his nationality from France to Spain in order to earn his first international cap. He is now the main center back at Spain and so far he’s fitting perfectly as evident with his fantastic campaign at the Euros with Spain’s national team. He also scored a goal in Spain’s Euro victory over Slovakia. He is already a Spanish international and many believe that a move to La Liga is inevitable for the player.

The 26-year-old would be a perfect replacement for Gerard Pique. Just like the legendary defender, Laporte is brilliant on the ball. He’s extremely good at moving the ball around, moving forward with the ball, and progressing the ball for more attacking play. He’s solid when it comes to making tackles and backtracking to stop counterattacks. He is also extremely good in the air. If he is trained a little more physically, he can be the ideal replacement.

The Frenchman has already won the Premier League 3 times with Guardiola and he’s played a massive role at Manchester City. However, this season he looks to have been sidelined as England’s John Stones and Portugal’s Ruben Dias look to be in superb form. Laporte is the ideal left center-back in this market and Barcelona should snap him up quickly as he is interested in joining the club and they can also utilize their good relationship with City to land the player. Aymeric Laporte would be a gorgeous addition to Ronald Koeman’s squad, he would solidify the defense much more than now.