Aymeric Laporte is Manchester City's record signing... but why has the £57m defender never played for France?

• e-mail

One question Manchester City supporters might be asking over their club's £57million signing of Aymeric Laporte is: why isn't he in the French team?

The 23-year-old centre back has been asking exactly the same question for some time now and part of the motivation behind his City move is that proving himself in the Premier League and under Pep Guardiola will leave France coach Didier Deschamps with no arguments left not to pick him.

Laporte has been called up once but never been capped by France. Deschamps has favoured Raphael Varane and Laurent Koscielny as a pairing in the past and now Samuel Umtiti is making a very serious claim for one of their spots.

Manchester City broke their transfer record to sign 23-year-old Aymeric Laporte for £57m

French defender Laporte played more than 160 La Liga games for former club Athletic Bilbao

Laporte has had to look on while players such as Eliaquim Mangala have been picked ahead of him.

That will be Laporte's first giant stride in his bid to get in the national team — when he turns up at City he immediately jumps ahead of Mangala who will either stay but behind the new man in the pecking order or be sold or loaned out.

Marseille's Adil Rami is another who has found more favour under Deschamps. One theory is that the French manager has doubts over Laporte physically.

There are two theories concerning the former Athletic Bilbao defender. Sky Sports' Spanish football expert Terry Gibson said recently that he felt Laporte was: 'Quick but not lightning quick', and 'strong but not very strong'. But Guardiola is convinced that not only is Laporte already physically ready for the Premier League but that he has the sort of conditioning that can be worked on and fine-tuned to suit the demands of his new working environment.

El Pais' Diego Torres who covers the Spanish national team wrote about his ability to anticipate danger and react to it this week likening Laporte to Carles Puyol. And it's that ability to defend when half the pitch is at your back and you know a second's hesitation will leave the opposition through on goal has also made him a target for Spain coach Julen Lopetegui.

He qualifies through residency, and has been targeted because beyond Gerard Pique and Sergio Ramos the Spanish are not over-blessed with young centre backs. It seems, however, that the recent keenness towards 'signing' Laporte (as Diego Costa was 'signed' from Brazil before) has cooled. This is in part because Laporte feels he is getting closer to the French national team, and that moving to work under Guardiola only takes him closer. 

But he has not yet made a senior appearance for France, despite winning 19 Under 21 caps

He has been eyed by Spain as a possible replacement for Gerard Pique (left) or Sergio Ramos

It isn't just convincing Deschamps that he beats the brawn of a Rami or a Mangala or that he's worth breaking up the Koscielny Varane partnership, Umititi is the player who now most blocks his path to the first team.

When Barcelona wanted a new left-sided centre back two seasons ago, to come in alongside Gerard Pique, they looked at both Laporte and Umititi. The former was seen as the safer bet but Umititi was cheap by comparison. He looked more raw and had not played in Spain but for £24m it was gamble worth taking and it has paid off because before he got injured at the end of last year Umititi was playing as well as anyone at Barcelona. He has risen to the challenge of learning the way Barcelona defend.

Laporte needs to do likewise at City. Just like Umtiti he will be eased in. The former Lyon defender was not always first choice when he first turned up and Nicola Otamendi's form this season makes for a similar scenario at City. But long term Guardiola will want him to the left of John Stones.

If Laporte can manage that then he will manage something else too — a free pass to the French squad alongside Umititi, Koscielny and Varane.

Deschamps has done a good job of ignoring him up until now but if Guardiola is building his defence around him, he will have to take notice.

Laporte was called up for one of France's World Cup qualifiers in 2016 but he did not play

France boss Didier Deschamps will be unable to ignore him if he stars in England for Man City