Scouting Barcelona's Top Defensive Target Aymeric Laporte

Barcelona and a whole host of other clubs are in the market for Athletic Bilbao's young centre-back Aymeric Laporte.

Only the second Frenchman to play for the club in its entire history, following in the footsteps of Bixente Lizarazu, he is still just 21 years of age. However, a string of high-quality performances for the Basques have brought him wider acclaim.

He won't come cheap, mind.

Max Miller of Metro notes his buyout clause is an astonishing £40 million, and it's unlikely that Athletic will want to enter into negotiations for one of their prized assets.

It would place him as one of the most expensive central defenders in world football, but is he worth the spend? 

Arguably he is, with any small weaknesses more than compensated by his prowess in the role.

Competent left-footed central defenders are rare in this day and age, and although Barca already have Thomas Vermaelen and Jeremy Mathieu in situ, neither are really up to the required standard.

Javier Mascherano has done a sterling job of filling in next to Gerard Pique, but Pete Jenson of the Independent notes that the Argentinian isn't averse to a Premier League switch should a club from the English top flight come calling:

"

No, no, Pep is not going to call me. He will not call me, no, no, no.

But returning to the Premier League? I don’t know. My feeling for Liverpool does not mean I’m tied to them. If in the future a Premier League team was interested in me and I had the chance to go back, you can’t say: "No, I would only play for one team".

I don’t know what I would do.

"

Furthermore, Masche has always considered himself a central midfielder, and he's certainly been vertically challenged in a role that normally commands players at least 6'0" in height.

Laporte ticks all of the right boxes.

Tall, strong and physical, he is a ball-playing centre-back who would be a perfect accompaniment to Pique.

Considering his age, he is already a wonderful reader of the game and over the course of this season is more than a match for his contemporaries Pique and Mascherano and also John Stones of Everton, another youngster who's been on Barca's radar for a while now.

The Squawka comparison matrix makes interesting reading:

Squawka

Laporte's pass completion is an obvious weakness but one that should be easily addressed on the training pitch.

The biggest problem for the player is a penchant to sometimes meet an attacker face-on rather than side-on, showing him the attacker down the channels. In so doing, it sets Laporte back on his heels, allowing the striker to drift past with ease.

They are minor issues in the grand scheme of things.

Pique has been acknowledged as the best defender in the world at present, yet he has 20 interceptions fewer than Laporte and nine fewer tackles.

Aerially, Laporte is far ahead of his contemporaries, with a 71.43 percent of his aerial duels successfully won.

The one main stumbling block to any transfer at this point appears to be the player's own reluctance to move from the New San Mames.

In a recent interview with Telefoot (via Catalan daily Sport) Laporte said:

"

FC Barcelona is one of the most important clubs in the world, but I would reject an offer from them. They have not talked to me to present an offer, not this season or last, but it wouldn't interest me.

All the future is ahead, playing these years at Athletic.

"

Whether acceptance of any bid from Barcelona by Athletic Club should move the goalposts and change Laporte's mind will become clear in the summer.