Spanish defender joins Saudi Club Al Nassr from Premier League giants

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Al-Nassr have officially signed Aymeric Laporte from Manchester City. The Premier League champions confirmed the completion of the transfer.

Reports suggest that Al-Nassr paid a substantial fee of £23.5million for the Spanish defender, who has been with City for over five years. The Saudi club have now made another high-profile signing in this transfer window.

Laporte is not the only former City player to make his way to Saudi Arabia this summer. Riyad Mahrez, Laporte's ex-teammate, also joined Al-Ahli during the current transfer window.

The Spanish defender told City's website, www.mancity.com: "I am proud to have represented Manchester City over the last six seasons.

"When I first joined, I was excited about the prospect of winning trophies. However, I could not have imagined the success we would go on to achieve together. I would like to thank the coaches, my team-mates and of course the brilliant City fans for all of their support throughout my time in Manchester. I will always be a City fan and I look forward to seeing you all again," he added.

Laporte has played 180 matches for the Premier League club across all competitions and has scored 12 goals for them. The Spain international was part of the treble-winning City side last season, but saw his opportunities limited with just 12 league appearances last term.

Al Nassr have already brought in the likes of Sadio Mane from Bayern Munich and Alex Telles from Manchester United this season. The Saudi giants won the Arab Champions Cup recently and also have the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Marcelo Brozovic in their squad.

The Spaniard joined City from Athletic Bilbao in a £57million deal in January 2018, won five Premier League titles, the Champions League and five domestic cups as a member of Pep Guardiola's squad.

His role in the Premier League club was lessened after the arrival of Manuel Akanji last season. And now the signing of Josko Gvardiol has taken Laporte further down the pecking order.