Manchester City are understood to have accepted a bid from Saudi Pro League side Al Nassr for defender Aymeric Laporte. The Spaniard has fallen out of favour at the Etihad Stadium, where he was once considered a staple and now feels like the right time for the 29-year-old to move onto pastures new.
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Laporte has been attracting interest from Arsenal but the Gunners are conscious that City are unlikely to conduct further business with their Premier League title rivals.
Spurs have also been linked with Laporte but it now looks as though he'll be heading to the Middle East.
The Athletic are reporting that City have accepted an offer from Al Nassr for the former Athletic Club centre-back.
He has won 12 trophies in the North West including five Premier League titles following his transfer from the Basque Country back in January 2018.
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The arrival of Josko Gvardiol has pushed Laporte even further down the pecking order and now feels like the right time for City to sell.
Should he agree to the move, Laporte would join a host of big-name stars at Al Nassr - not least Cristiano Ronaldo and Sadio Mane.
The Riyadh-based outfit have also signed household names such as Marcelo Brozovic, Seko Fofana and Alex Telles this summer.
Laporte was a late substitute in City's opening-day demolition of Burnley last Friday at Turf Moor.
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There has been growing optimism that Arsenal could test the water for the player as Laporte is highly-rated by his former coach Mikel Arteta.
The Gunners have lost Jurrien Timber due to a knee injury and therefore need some additional cover and competition at left-back and left centre-back.
Laporte ticks that box but having sold Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko to Arsenal last summer, City are unlikely to conduct further business with their fellow title challengers who made huge strides last season.
City have already lost Riyad Mahrez and Ilkay Gundogan in the transfer window this summer.
Joao Cancelo is also heading for the exit door as the City hierarchy work on landing replacements for Guardiola before the September 1 transfer deadline.
Lucas Paqueta and Jeremy Doku are among City's top targets for the Spaniard as they seek to bolster their attacking options.
The sale of Laporte, who has been valued at £30m, would certainly help bolster their transfer kitty.
City have already seen one bid, thought to be worth in the region of £70m, rejected by West Ham for Paqueta.
