How Aymeric Laporte's Man City Transfer Helped Save a Small French Club

Sporting Union De Agen was under crippling debt, but it received £570,000 from Man City's purchase of its former player, Aymeric Laporte.

Aymeric Laporte's £57m transfer to Manchester City from Athletic Bilbao in January helped save the Frenchman's former club from liquidation, according to reports on El Correo. 

Sporting Union De Agen are a French club competing in the Championnat National 3 - the eighth tier of French football. They have been under crippling debt for years, with debt levels hitting around £100,000. 

On top of this, the club have outflows of around £160,000-a-year, and it was beginning to look like they had no option but to declare bankruptcy. This is a sad situation for any side to be in, but luckily for Agen they were saved. 

Due to a sell-on clause of 1% inserted in the contract when Laporte left the club in 2009, SU Agen raked in £570,000 from the defender's move from Bilbao to City. 

This was huge for the club as it now means they can clear there debts and begin to run smoothly again. 

The club are delighted with the recent good news and Jean Claude Brunel, Agen's co-president said: ''Fate knocks at our door. It is unexpected and a beautiful reward for our efforts. 

"If the ruling had not been manifested, we were determined to close at the end of the season as we were unable to meet the operating costs.''