A regular feature at the heart of our defence so far this term, the Spanish central defender has received widespread plaudits for a series of commanding displays.
His performances have been another reminder – if any were needed – of why Laporte has come to be recognised as one of Europe’s most impressive and consistent centre-halves.
A fit and rejuvenated Laporte spoke earlier this season of how he was revelling in his football at the Etihad as part of Pep Guardiola’s hugely talented City squad.
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Elegant and composed on the ball and armed with a superb reading of the game, the Spanish international has complimented those crucial defensive attributes alongside a vibrant goal threat so far this term.
The 27-year-old had already found the target this season in our emphatic home wins against Norwich and Leicester.
And Laporte was on the mark once again last weekend, heading home our important second half equalizer to secure a 1-1 draw away to Southampton.
That performance also saw Laporte illustrate his defensive acumen to perfection when he executed a perfectly timed challenge to deny Saints striker Armando Broja a potential goal scoring opportunity in the second half.
Laporte arrived at the Etihad Stadium from Athletic Bilbao in the January 2018, and instantly hit the ground running, with his defensive acumen, vision, physical prowess and all-round reading of the game coalescing to hugely impressive effect.
He helped Pep Guardiola’s Centurions side secure the 2017/18 Premier League title and then proved a mainstay of our Fourmidables campaign in 2018/19, his goal away at Brighton on the final day helping inspire City onwards to a title-clinching 4-1 success.
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In 2019/20 Laporte also demonstrated his formidable mental resilience, as he recovered from a serious long-term knee injury to play his part in the final two months of the COVID-19 delayed campaign.
Last term, alongside assisting in our latest Premier League triumph, Laporte also made the decisive contribution to our fourth consecutive Carabao Cup success, heading home the winner to seal a memorable 1-0 Wembley win over Spurs.
After subsequently shining for Spain in last summer’s EURO 2020 tournament, so far across the 2021-22 campaign, Laporte has only enhanced his formidable reputation even further.
He has made 19 league starts to date, emerging as one of the pivotal mainstays in a City side that currently sits nine points clear at top of the table after 23 games, a fact which is further borne out by some of Laporte’s impressive individual statistics for the season to date.
He boasts the best passing accuracy percentage (95.1 %) of anyone in the Premier League and is second in the ranks for most successful passes completed (1541) behind City team-mate Joao Cancelo (1584).
Meanwhile, he is an impressive third in the standings for most passes, having made 1620 to date with only Club colleagues Cancelo (1838) and Ruben Dias (1640) ahead of him.
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Laporte also leads the rankings in terms of performing more ball carries than anybody else in the top flight, his tally of (486) coming in ahead of Dias (482).
When it comes to ball carry progression towards the opposition goal, Laporte is once again out on his own, boasting a commanding cumulative total figure of (3566m), significantly ahead of Dias who is second in the rankings on (3177)
Laporte also edges out Dias in the tally of most progressive carries (330) to (322).
And only Reece James (4) is ahead of Laporte in terms of having scored most Premier League goals so far this season from a defender.
With the business end of the season still ahead of us, there’s every chance that Laporte will further amplify those impressive stats between now and the end of May.
And if his form in the first six months of the season is anything to go by, his impact to City’s collective cause will be profound.
