Aymeric Laporte 'excited to get started' after completing club record move to Manchester City

French defender signs a contract until 2023 following a career at Atheltic Bilbao that spanned 222 appearances.

Aymeric Laporte has completed his move to Premier League leaders Manchester City. Nicolas Tucat / AFP

Manchester City have completed the signing of French defender Aymeric Laporte from Athletic Bilbao in a deal reported to include a club record fee.

Laporte, 23, has signed a contract that will keep him at the Premier League club until 2023. The £57 million (Dh295.6m) transfer fee, widely reported to match the buyout clause in his Bilbao contract, makes Laporte City's most expensive signing, marginally more than the £55m City paid to Wolfsburg for Belgian playmaker Kevin De Bruyne in 2015.

“I am very happy to be here,” Laporte told City's official website. “City are a club with a lot of ambition and they are one of the best teams in Europe.

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“I am looking forward to working under Pep Guardiola and trying to help the club to achieve success. It means a lot that the club have shown faith in me and I am excited to get started.”

Laporte started his career in his native France with SU Agen and Bayonne before moving to Bilbao in 2010. He subsequently made 222 appearances for the Primera Liga side, during which time he was named in La Liga's 2013/14 team of the season.

“We are delighted to have signed Aymeric," City’s Director of Football Txiki Begiristain said. “We have assessed defensive options and he is a player we have admired for a long time.

“With his quality and ability to play out from the back, we feel Aymeric will fit in perfectly with Pep Guardiola’s playing style.”