Earlier this week, Athletic Club finally completed the signing of Aymeric Laporte, who makes his return to the club after seven years. An agreement had been reached prior to the summer transfer window closing, but after FIFA deemed it to be too late, they U-turned on their decision.
And that sparked joy among Laporte and his family, as he revealed during his presentation ceremony on Saturday (via Marca).
“The signing process has been long and I am very grateful to all those who have supported me and have been by my side. I would have liked it to be shorter. I’ve been through difficult times and I’m very happy that it went well. Returning to Athletic was my only objective in this market and that’s how I transmitted it to Al-Nassr. They told me that there were many clubs willing to pay more money, which is why we had to be in that situation until the end of the market.
“I signed with the two clubs before 12 o’clock at night. What is clear is that FIFA does not give anything to anyone and if the registration has been formalised, it is for a reason. When they told me that everything was okay, there was great emotion and tears in the family.”
Laporte also revealed that he had been keen to re-sign for Athletic two years ago, but Man City blocked that move in favour of an agreement with Al-Nassr.
“Two years ago when I signed for Al Nassr I also had the intention of returning to Athletic, but the effort that had to be made I understood that Athletic could not assume it. City, where he had two more years on his contract, opted for the maximum transfer possible. Now, with only one more year on my contract with Al Nassr, I knew I could reach an agreement and I always told Athletic that I wanted to return. When I returned to Lezama the other day I felt that smell of childhood.”