Laporte denies saying he would reject Barcelona

Athletic Bilbao defender Aymeric Laporte has denied saying he would turn down an offer to join Barcelona.

The France Under-21 international allegedly told Telefoot he would not be interested in moving to Camp Nou, but has now claimed those remarks were misinterpreted.

“At no time did I make the statements that have been published by a number of media outlets,” the 21-year-old told AS.

“All I said was that in order to make a decision about an offer from Barcelona, there would actually have to be an offer first before considering it.

“And what’s even more important is that any offer would have to go through the club first.”

Laporte has developed into a key figure at Athletic and has made over 100 La Liga appearances for the Basque side.

He has a contract with the club until June 2019.