Aymeric Laporte finally explains his choice

It is the story of a player who waited a long time, in vain, for his first love to make a gesture. At 27, Aymeric Laporte will never wear the France team jersey in an official match. Despite all a start to his career in Spain, on the side of Bilbao, the defender had chosen to make his ranges with the tricolor selections. International Espoirs 17 times (1 goal) between 2013 and 2016, the Manchester City player hoped to have his chance at the A. In vain.

Snubbed by Didier Deschamps, Laporte finally decided to respond favorably to La Roja’s request. Three years after being bitten Lucas Hernandez by the Blues, Spain retaliated by naturalizing in an express way the Citizen in order to benefit from it during the Euro. In an interview with Marca, the native of Agen returned to this episode. Starting with the phone call from Luis Enrique. “It’s a long history. He called me and told me that he was interested in the idea of ​​counting on me and wanted to know if I was interested in the idea of ​​playing a European Championship. He told me that it was very possible that I play with Spain and I was delighted. ”

Laporte is happy

But if he is in heaven, others, like Luis Fernandez for example, still have not understood his choice. But that, Laporte doesn’t care. “It still bothers people. You will never please everyone and you can’t love everyone either. So the tastes and the colors… It’s a delicate subject, but at the end of the day I have to do what I think is right and correct, doing it right. This is what I have always tried to do, while respecting everyone as much as possible. As it was a complicated subject, I spoke about it with my family and I told them that they were my intentions. They understood. In a way, it was very clear to them. What Spain gave me, throughout my career and not just now, has nothing to do with France. “

Finally, to the question: “has one of the players of the France team contacted you regarding your situation?” “, Laporte’s response rocketed. ” No. Most of them knew about my situation. Not the fact that I was going to play with Spain, but that I was not counted on in France or only on an ad hoc basis. I hung on for a long time, waiting for something. They were surprised because I hadn’t told them about it (his Spanish naturalization), but they’re happy because they know that’s what I wanted. “ And today, Aymeric Laporte is enjoying the Euro.