Aymeric Laporte: Forgotten Frenchman Becoming Spain’s Hero | OneFootball

If you look at the birthplaces of Spain’s national team players, there would be one person jumping out at you. That’s Aymeric Laporte.

Unlike the other 25 players in the squad, Laporte was born and raised in France. And also unlike his occasional center back teammate Dean Huijsen, who moved to Spain when young, Laporte only moved to Spain when he was 16 years old.

So why is he playing for Spain instead of France? This is his story.

Humble Beginnings

Born Aymeric Jean Louis Gérard Alphonse Laporte, he grew up in Agen, a commune just southeast of Bordeaux in the south of France.

He started playing both soccer and rugby as a child. By the time he was a teenager, he was getting noticed by top European academies.

One of those was Athletic Club Bilbao. The club has a strict policy of only signing Basque players, but discovered that Laporte’s great grandparents were, in fact, Basque. They invited him to join their academy in 2009, though this ruffled some feathers due to the tenuous and distant connection to Basqueness.

Because he was only 15, and deemed too young to leave France, Laporte trained with nearby Bayonne. In 2010, he officially joined Athletic Club’s Lezama academy.

Breakthrough in La Liga

Laporte immediately showed his quality at Lezama and jumped through the youth ranks quickly. He was promoted to the first team and made his senior debut at 18. The defender was also getting constant call-ups to France youth teams as they were tracking his progress.

The 2013/14 season was where he fully cemented his starting spot for his club, making 35 appearances in La Liga. But his France senior call-up didn’t come; he was still playing for the French youth teams. His frustration led to him to say in 2015 that if he didn’t get a call-up for Euro 2016, he would consider switching to Spain.

Didier Deschamps still didn’t call him. As it turned out, Laporte suffered an injury before the tournament, and would have missed out regardless. But the snub was there.

Premier League Move

In fall of 2016, Laporte started the process of making himself eligible for Spain. At that moment, he finally got the France senior team call-up by Deschamps. However, the defender didn’t play a single minute.

He was still holding out the hopes of playing for France, and despite Spain’s interest, Laporte decided to keep waiting for his birth country.

In the winter of 2018, Laporte made a $76 million move to Manchester City. It was a record breaking deal for both clubs at the time. He became a key starter for City right away and won the Premier League a few months later.

Deschamps still didn’t give Laporte a chance. Though called up for World Cup qualifiers in October 2017, he didn’t play. He also missed out on the 2018 World Cup where France ended up lifting the trophy.

Laporte was getting tired of waiting. As one of the best defenders in the Premier League at the time, he knew he had the quality to play international football. In 2019, he thought his chance had come when he got the call for Euro 2020 qualifiers. Unfortunately, he suffered an injury which ruled him out.

Switch to Spain

The Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFRF) took matters into their own hands and extended Laporte an offer of Spanish citizenship. In May 2021, when he realized France would not call him up to Euro 2020 (delayed one year due to COVID), Laporte accepted the offer and officially switched to Spain.

While France got knocked out from the Round of 16 in that tournament, Laporte emerged as a key player for Spain in their run to the semifinals. He followed that up by featuring i three out of four games in the 2022 World Cup. But it was Euro 2024 where he got to taste victory with his adopted country.

Laporte played every knockout game as a starter in that tournament, including the game against France where Spain won. He formed a solid partnership with Robin Le Normand, another defender who switched from France to Spain.

Laporte’s club form has been shaky in the past few years, after he left Manchester City for a big payday with Saudi team Al-Nassr. In 2025 he returned to his boyhood club. Despite his form, Laporte was included in the squad for the 2026 World Cup and so far, he’s played in all seven games.

Now a veteran, he has formed a great partnership with teenager Pau Cubarsí, and together, they’ve only allowed one goal in the tournament.

From being constantly ignored by Deschamps for France, Laporte has won the Euros for Spain and now a game away from winning the World Cup. What a story.