Manchester City have had their fair share of fantastic centre-backs in recent years.
John Stones is an incredible player, Ruben Dias is a top talent, while Nathan Ake has been consistently excellent for a long time.
Aymeric Laporte was brilliant for City during his time at the club too, and speaking on Ben Foster’s Podcast, Patrick Bamford has been discussing what it was like to play against Laporte at City.
The Leeds striker says that Laporte was one of his toughest ever opponents, claiming that he was actually much better than he ever looked on TV.
Bamford says Laporte was incredibly aggressive as a player and he always gave him a tough challenge.
Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images
Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images
Patrick Bamford says Aymeric Laporte was brilliant
Bamford spoke about what it was like to play against Laporte.
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The £57m defender was incredibly successful for Manchester City, and Bamford always found him tough to compete against.
“But we played against City at home and I think it was 1-1, but Laporte, he was bloody good,” Bamford said.
“Yeah. Like, I knew that he’s obviously top level defender, but when you come against him, like he wasn’t, when I watched him on TV, you wouldn’t think he’s like an aggressive defender. He’s aggressive of it as well, which I don’t mind, but I just thought it was like, it was a tough, I enjoyed it, it was a tough game.”
Patrick Bamford’s record vs Aymeric Laporte
Bamford says that Laporte used to give him a tough time, and the stats reflect that.
Indeed, the England striker has never scored a single goal against Laporte, while he’s also never won a game against the Spaniard either.
Leeds famously beat Man City 2-1 back in the 2020/21 season, but Bamford and Laporte didn’t face off on that day.
Patrick Bamford’s record vs Aymeric Laporte
Games 0
Wins 0
Draws 1
Losses 1
Goals 0
Laporte is currently plying his trade over in Saudi Arabia after leaving Manchester City, but at the age of just 30, he should still have something to offer at the top level.
Who knows? Perhaps Laporte will be back in Europe at some point in the coming years, and if he does return, Bamford certainly won’t be excited by the prospect of facing off against the defender.