5 reasons why Aymeric Laporte could prove to be the best January signing

This was perhaps one of the noisiest of all January transfer windows. The last time we had such a high-profile winter transfer window was back in 2011 when Fernando Torres made the headlines with his move to Chelsea.

A lot of great clubs have signed some top players. Among them, Manchester City have made what could potentially be the best signing by acquiring the signature of Aymeric Laporte. The defender was bred in the famous school in Lezama—the academy of Athletic Club—and has gone on to become one of the finest defenders in the country.

And now, Manchester City came calling for the second time. They did the same in 2016, but he refused to leave Athletic. Now, however, he has taken the leap to play under Pep Guardiola—and here are 5 reasons why he could be the best buy of the January window.

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#5 Superb defender

This is so basic, isn’t it? If he wasn’t a superb defender, Guardiola wouldn’t have pressed Manchester City to break their transfer record to sign him, would he? He is so good that despite being only 23, he has played 222 times for the Basque outfit.

Laporte has been regarded highly since his younger days. Even then, he had a great understanding of the game which is his greatest asset. To put it bluntly, he is not really among the best of tacklers, but he makes up for that with his brilliant positioning.

However, the real reason why the former Barcelona manager bought him is the youngster's ability with the ball at his feet. His technical prowess, above all, sets him apart from the others. Guardiola loves to play the ball out of the defence—and Laporte can do that with relative ease and elegance.

#4 Youthfulness

One of the best young defenders in the world

For a defender under the age of 26, the sky is the limit. Defenders get better with age and this allows them to last longer than forwards. 18-26 are the formative years for a defender and determine how far they can go.

The Frenchman is only 23 years old. Being 23 gives him the opportunity to learn and gain from it. And in the Premier League, he will learn a lot.

The physical nature of the league might surprise him in the beginning, but it will toughen him up and improve the physical aspect of his game.

Also, the fact that he will play under Pep Guardiola will only add to his knowledge. The Catalan is a philosopher known to infuse his ideologies on his players, something that will definitely improve the former Athletic man.

Indeed, the likes of Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane have all improved under him, with the German reaching new heights from relative obscurity since his move from Schalke.

While Sane was a raw talent, Laporte is already polished to some extent. All that remains is the final touch.

And Guardiola will provide him with that.

#3 Relatively cheap

He cost much less than Van Dijk

There are some reasons to make this claim. The first reason is his age. Given that he is 23, he can play for City for the next 10 years if things go according to plan. 10 years of reliable service from a player is priceless, so £57 million is nothing when compared to that.

And now let’s talk about the main reason for me to make this point: the state of the current transfer market. After the signing of Neymar, the bubble burst and almost every player worth his salt is sold at inflated prices.

And then came the deal for Virgil Van Dijk. The Dutchman cost Liverpool £75 million—which is 5 million less than what Real Madrid paid for Cristiano Ronaldo.

In comparison, a much younger and potentially much better player was signed for £57 million. If you ask me, that is a bargain.

#2 Left-footed and versatile

Laporte can play at left-back

What’s so special about being left-footed? Plenty. For one, he can play on the left-side of the defence and has fewer chances of being wrong-footed by the opponents. Being left-footed also makes him the perfect partner for the right-footed Nicolas Otamendi.

And then there is the fact that he is versatile. His ball-playing abilities also make him a very good player at left-back. Although he hasn’t played in that position for a long time, a part of his upbringing has been in that position.

With a bad injury to Benjamin Mendy, Pep Guardiola has had to use Fabian Delph at left-back. While Delph might have done an admirable job in his new role, Guardiola would like options in that area should there be more absentees.

As a result, with the acquisition of Laporte, Pep has hit two birds with one stone.

#1 City move a step closer to being a container

The water controller

The way Manchester City are playing now is just a silhouette of the vision of Pep Guardiola. The Catalan envisages a unit that is capable of razing teams with togetherness. The system that he wants is like a container that holds water.

He wants control throughout the pitch and the signing of Laporte puts Manchester City one step closer to achieving this. The fact that every player in the best XI of City are good ball-players makes it easy for them to control the water—or, in other words, the ball.

From goalkeeper Ederson to striker Gabriel Jesus, every player in the team is good with the ball at their feet. They only lacked another ball-playing defender with astute game-reading abilities—and now they have that in Aymeric Laporte.

The thing is, once City play entirely according to Pep’s vision, they could very well become the best team in the world. And since acquiring Laporte takes them closer to that, he could be the best signing of the window.