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- Athletic Club have made verbal proposal for Laporte
- Laporte not in Al-Nassr’s long-term plans
- Riyadh side put faith in new defender Hancko
Laporte was among the first batch of major signings by Al-Nassr alongside Cristiano Ronaldo. The ex-مانشستر سيتي defender has since started 69 games for the club and has been an integral part of the first team. However, according to CadenaSER the 31-year-old is not in head coach Jorge Jesus’ plans. The Spanish defender has been offered a chance to move back to his country after the Basque club initiated talks with the Saudi club.
Al-Nassr have recently appointed Jesus as their manager, and the first thing for the ex-Al-Hilal coach was to bring in players that fit his vision. The Portuguese coach wanted to sign new players that suit his style of play and has decided to offload Laporte and midfielder Otavio. Jesus plans to strengthen the central areas with a defensive and an attacking midfielder.
Slovakian defender David Hancko is the first major signing under the new management of Jesus, and it was only after the head coach’s approval that the club went ahead with the deal. The €33 million (£28m/$38m) signing will replace Laporte and has signed a contract until 2028. This makes Laporte’s exit more likely this summer, but it still won’t be an easy task for Bilbao to sign him as the Saudi club are said to play hardball.
Al-Nassr haven’t managed to win much even after their revamp with Ronaldo in 2023. The 40-year-old forward has expressed his desire for the Saudi club to make new signings and even held discussions with Jesus on what aspects the team needs to work on and improve. Among the many names suggested by the ex-ريال مدريد winger is Liverpool‘s Luis Diaz. However, multiple clubs, including Bayern Munich, are in the race to sign the Colombian winger.
