The World football governing body, FIFA, has finally approved the nationality switch of Manchester City center-back, Aymeric Laporte on Friday, May 14, 2021.
This means that the 26-year-old defender has successfully switched his nationality from France to Spain. He decided to undertake this process when he was not able to break into France national team despite being a product of the country’s youth team.
Before now, Aymeric Laporte had represented France’s national team from the under-17 level until the under-21 level. He was so good that he was the captain of the under-19 and under-21 sides of the country.
After making about 51 appearances across all the youth teams of France, he was finally given a chance to play for the country’s national team in August 2019. Unfortunately for him, he was not able to report to camp due to an injury he sustained then.
After that, French national team coach, Didier Deschamps did not deem it fit to invite him to the national team again despite trying to keep in touch with the coach.
Hence, Aymeric Laporte decided to apply for a nationality switch which the Spanish Council of Ministers granted in May 2021 and FIFA rectified earlier today.
This means that the Manchester City defender who played for Athletic Bilbao from December 17, 2012, until 2018 before he joined City on January 30, 2018, for a transfer fee worth €65million, can play for Spain’s national team.
Why was Aymeric Laporte eligible to play for France and Spain
Aymeric Laporte was born on 27 May 1994 in Agen, France. Though he was born and raised in France, he has an ancestral link to Spain through his father Lionel Laporte.
With this, he was eligible to play for either Spain senior national team or France senior national team. However, he has always wanted to play for France due to his time with the country’s youth team.
Though he played for French youth teams, he had his big break in football when he joined a Spanish club Athletic Bilbao. He spent over 5 years at the Spanish club before he joined Manchester City in 2018.
During his time in Spain, he got himself a Spanish girlfriend, Sara Botello, who was a cheerleader for the Bilbao basketball team. Aymeric Laporte and Sara are still together to date.
