Pep Guardiola will take his spending at Manchester City beyond £450million on Tuesday with the arrival of Aymeric Laporte from Athletic Bilbao for a club-record fee.
A City delegation were in Spain Monday lunchtime to pay the central defender’s £57m release clause, with Laporte due in Manchester on Monday night ahead of his official unveiling.
The 23-year-old, uncapped by France, will become second only to Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk as the most expensive defender in history. Laporte’s fee eclipses the club record £55m City paid to Wolfsburg for Kevin De Bruyne in 2015.