Aymeric Laporte Says Playing for Spain 'Out of the Question' Amid France Absence

Manchester City defender Aymeric Laporte has said there is no chance of him playing for Spain in the future as he continues to be ignored by France manager Didier Deschamps.

Despite excelling for Athletic Bilbao and now the Premier League champions, Laporte has not yet been called up by the FIFA World Cup winners. Given he has Basque heritage, there has been some tentative talk of the defender representing Spain.

However, Laporte ruled out that prospect in an interview with EITB (h/t Football Espana) and vowed to continue fighting for a spot in the France side:

"The coach isn’t picking me for personal reasons, but I have to respect that. I don’t think it’s a sporting issue. You’ll have to ask him why he doesn’t call me. I don’t have anything against him. If someone has a problem, it’s him with me.

"I’m not going to call him. The only person who can solve this is the coach, but playing for Spain is out of the question. I’m fighting to play for France because I’m French. I don’t have dual citizenship and I’m not going to apply for it."

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Laporte has played for France at youth level and the 24-year-old accrued 19 caps for the under-21 team.

His stance has changed it appears, as in October 2015 the defender said he would consider playing for La Roja if he wasn't involved in the UEFA European Championship for France, per ESPN FC.

While Laporte may not quite have been ready for a position in the squad two years ago, he's done a lot of developing since then. Having moved to City and excelled under manager Pep Guardiola he's now one of the leading defenders in English football.

France do have a number of excellent defenders within their ranks, yet some players who Laporte is outperforming in the Premier League continue to get opportunities in front of him. French football journalist Jeremy Smith was unhappy with the previous Les Bleus squad:

Getting into the France team on a regular basis will be a big challenge for Laporte. After all, in the summer the duo of Raphael Varane and Samuel Umtiti were rock solid and both are still in a position to develop their games in years to come.

However, Laporte has arguably hit a more consistent level than both of those players throughout the course of the campaign. He's certainly done enough to warrant a squad place and it'll be intriguing to see how much longer Deschamps can ignore him for.