---
title: "Chelsea are hoping to sign defender Aymeric Laporte"
canonical: "https://readchelsea.com/2017/05/11/chelsea-hoping-sign-defender-aymeric-laporte/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Ste Hoare"
section: "Chelsea News"
published: "2017-05-11T09:44:37Z"
modified: "2017-05-11T09:44:37Z"
---

# Chelsea are hoping to sign defender Aymeric Laporte

Chelsea are in the market for a new centre-back this summer and according to a report from [ESPN FC](https://www.espnfc.com/story/3122650/chelsea-want-to-sign-athletic-bilbaos-aymeric-laporte-sources), the Blues want to sign Athletic Bilbao’s Aymeric Laporte.

Antonio Conte is looking to bring in another defender as John Terry is leaving the club and there is talk that Kurt Zouma will be allowed to go out on loan to play regular first-team football.

![Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images Sport](https://cdn.readeverything.co/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/654831700.jpg)

Laporte, a French U21 international, was linked with a move to Manchester City last summer but he apparently turned down the transfer and chose to extend his contract at Bilbao until 2020.

His new contract contains a buyout clause of around £54.5m, although it’s unclear at this stage if Chelsea will be willing to pay such a fee, although reports suggesting that they’d be willing to meet the asking price for Virgil van Dijk would lead one to think that they are willing to splash the cash on a new centre-back.