Football
Ian Holyman, France correspondent 7y

Aymeric Laporte: France call-up has been my 'dream since childhood'

Aymeric Laporte has called Thursday "the perfect day" after celebrating a first senior call-up for France with a Europa League win with Athletic Bilbao.

French-born Laporte, 22, is still eligible to represent Spain as he has dual nationality but that possibility would disappear should he play for France at senior level.

However, after Athletic's 1-0 Europa League win over Rapid Vienna, Laporte said swapping Les Bleus for La Roja Furia was never in his mind.

"My dream was to play for France," Laporte, who has 19 under-21 caps for France, told Marca. "It's been my dream since childhood."

When naming his squad for the Group A matches on Thursday, Deschamps denied he had finally picked Laporte, who has been mooted for a call-up for a number of seasons, merely to prevent him switching allegiance. 

"At no time will I choose a player for motives other than those that concern the French national team," the former Monaco and Juventus boss said. "I don't take Laporte today to stop him from playing for another national team...I have never worked like that."

France's 1998 World Cup-winning captain added: "If I think he should play, he'll play. And it will be for the good of the team."

The central defender has been called up for the upcoming 2018 World Cup qualifying double-header with Bulgaria and Netherlands.

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