Top 25 Aymeric Laporte Quotes

There is only one thing that matters to me: the France team.

That’s what football is about – trying to win it all – and that’s what we’ll try and do.

When I was 11, I went to a sports school about an hour from home and stayed there during the week, only going home at weekends. That was hard, but it prepared me before I left for Bilbao; it made me stronger.

It’s clear that winning trophies increases confidence.

English football is very physical, much more so than Spanish football – I felt it in the first match.

It’s clear that the more competition there is in a team, the better it is for the club.

I’ve renewed four times with Athletic. I’ve done what I wanted, I’ve shown confidence in the club and them in me.

I play at Manchester City. I try and give performances for them game after game.

Pep is the best manager in the world. He’s always looking to help me get better and improve my game.

My goal is to play at Euro 2016 with France.

My style of play has always been ‘Guardiola style,’ so I’ve not had too many problems. At the same time, he helps you to evolve and to change little things, because it’s obviously not exactly the same style of play as at Bilbao.

I could have had Spanish nationality, and I didn’t take it.

I began as a striker, then became a holding midfielder, and now I’m a centre-half. I’ve done everything except play in goal.

I’m very grateful to Manchester City. They are incredible.

I am learning English and can understand better than I can speak it. But having said that, I am learning as quickly as I can.

I like to think of myself as a modern defender rather than old school.

The truth is I like the style of playing the ball out and hitting long passes.

Every training session you take part in, you have to work very hard and train hard because there is no other way to get where you want to be – it’s not a secret and not a magic formula – just hard work and application.

City are a club with a lot of ambition, and they are one of the best teams in Europe.

Bielsa certainly had his own methods. He brought in laptops and showed us videos of where to be on the pitch in terms of position. They were strange little things, but that’s why we learnt a lot under him.

Maybe apart from the World Cup, the Champions League is one of the most important trophies in the world of football.

Play with Spain? I think that’s already closed, but even so, I opt for France because I’m French. I don’t have dual citizenship, and I’m not going to ask for it.

If they call me, I would be very happy. It’s a dream to play for France.

When you talk about Puyol, you speak of a myth of football.

I’ve spent my whole life playing football. My father didn’t want me to play rugby because he felt it was very hard on the body, so at school, I was encouraged to play football, and that’s where everything started.