FIFA U-turn allows Athletic Bilbao to sign Laporte

BILBAO: Athletic Bilbao will sign Aymeric Laporte after world football governing body FIFA changed their stance on Thursday.

The Basque side tried to bring in the Spanish defender from Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr on Sept. 1 but the move was not completed before the transfer deadline.

FIFA last week rejected a request from the Spanish football federation (RFEF) to make an exception for Laporte’s move, but Athletic said the RFEF request has now been granted after they sought to overturn the decision.

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Spanish media said Al-Nassr had not filled in the details of the transfer online into FIFA’s Transfer Matching System.

 

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“Athletic Club would like to report that FIFA has authorized the RFEF to obtain the International Transfer Certificate (ITC) from the Saudi Arabian football federation,” said Athletic in a statement.

“Once the ITC is issued, Aymeric Laporte can be registered with Athletic Club.”

Laporte, 31, left Athletic for Manchester City in 2018 before joining Al-Nassr in 2023.