Laporte: I want to play for France, not Spain

Aymeric Laporte has revealed he wants to play for France instead of Spain.

The Athletic Club centre-back was born in Agen and has represented France at youth level, but he has yet to win a senior cap and remains eligible to play for La Roja.

Laporte stressed earlier this season that he saw his international future with the Euro 2016 host nation, but an interview on Onda Vasca this week, in which he suggested he may be forced to keep his options open, led to further speculation that he will switch allegiance to Spain.

But the 21-year-old has moved to explain his comments, stating via his official Twitter account on Saturday: "I would like to clarify, once more, a few words which have appeared in the media.

"Today, as a result of an interview, you can see headlines in a lot of newspapers which do not correspond with reality.

"My objective is to reach the senior France team. I'm still young and I have a lot of years in which to do that. There is no rush, only a lot of excitement.

"I WANT to play for the France team and, contrary to what is being said, I am NOT putting the coach under any pressure to call me up, neither have I given a nod to the Spanish team (with all due respect to them).

"I simply mentioned that if the coach told me that he did not want to rely on me, there are other alternatives.

"I take the opportunity to say that, for my part, this subject is settled and is more than clear. In fact, I will not reply if you ask me about it."