Crystal Palace: Aymeric Laporte would be big Guehi upgrade
Aymeric Laporte has won five Premier League titles in six seasons at Manchester City, but the Spain international could be on his way out. MarGue
Crystal Palace have said goodbye to club legend Wilfried Zaha and may be about to losec hi to circling Premier League rivals, but Roy Hodgson’s side could have a defensive alternative lined up.
What players have left Crystal Palace?
The Eagles have so far brought in only Jefferson Lerma on a free transfer following the midfielder’s departure from fellow top-flight side Bournemouth. Galatasaray on Monday, while the likes of Luka Milivojevic, James McArthur and Jack Butland have also reached the end of their contracts.
Zaha is the most notable of those who have departed Selhurst Park, the forward officially joiningGuehi may be the next player to leave Palace, though the ball is very much in the South London side’s court as the centre-back has three years to run on his deal.
According to The Evening Standard, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and Chelsea are all interested in the 23-year-old, who is valued at £50m by the Eagles.
Palace could in turn make a surprise move for Aymeric Laporte, with the Daily Star reporting that the Eagles may move for the Manchester City defender in a cut-price £35m deal – a £22m loss for the European champions on what they paid Athletic Bilbao five years ago.
What is Aymeric Laporte’s contract situation?
The French-born Spain international has two years to run on his City contract, meaning Pep Guardiola’s men are certainly in no desperate need to offload this summer.
Laporte recently admitted he did not enjoy last season as much as his previous campaigns at the Etihad Stadium, having started just 11 Premier League games in City’s treble-winning campaign.
Despite his relatively limited action in the top flight last season, Laporte still showed he is among the best centre-backs anywhere on the continent when used.
The 29-year-old ranks among the top 1% of all defenders across Europe’s top five leagues over the past year for passes attempted (86.43 per 90), as per FBref, the top 3% for pass completion (92.7%) and the top 1% again for both progressive passes and progressive carries.
Laporte completely outperforms Guehi in each of those categories, the latter completing ‘only’ 85.3% of his passes, though there is nothing between the pair when it comes to tackles won per 90 (0.73), as is also the case in terms of aerial duels won (55.8% and 55.7% respectively).
Guehi does edge things in terms of blocks per 90 (1.22 v 0.91), which goes to show that, even at six years younger than Laporte, Guehi is an incredibly talented player in the purely defensive metrics – going a long way to explaining his hefty valuation.
For the here and now, though, there is no denying that Laporte is the better all-rounder for Hodgson. Indeed, the fact Guardiola would be reluctant to sell a player he previously described as “incredible” says an awful lot about the former Athletic Bilbao ace’s stature.
Laporte’s performances have been consistently strong across his six campaigns at City, five of which have resulted in him lifting the Premier League title at the end of the season.
Should Palace match the Citizens’ valuation, and indeed persuade Laporte to join them over a bigger-name club, it could prove to be the biggest coup of the transfer window.
