No call from Deschamps convinces youngster "Laporte chooses Spain"

lt's full speed ahead to kick-start the complicated bureaucratic process to convert Aymeric Laporte into a Spanish national.

Once completed, it means the Frenchman, who has Basque great-grandparents, is eligible to play for his adopted country.

Wheels were set in motion after the Athletic Bilbao left-back was not called up by France for the first qualifiers of the 2018 World Cup, despite playing in all youth teams and being captain of the Under-21s.

The 22-year-old was ruled out of Euro 2016 after fracturing his ankle and fibula in March but Didier Deschamps has not made a single call to ask about his injury or recovery, either before or after the competition in France.

In the summer the defender decided to extend his contract with the Basque club until 2020 with a buy-out clause of 65 million euros after turning down two concrete offers from Barcelona and Manchester City.

The international's injury and the chance to play for Spain if he continued with a LaLiga side, helped him to make up his mind.

So he chose to stay with the club which has been trying to convince him to become Spanish since he was 16.

He faces fierce competition to get in the squad but, if Vicente del Bosque dropped interest in the player in October 2015, Julen Lopetegui is ready to take the bull by the horns.

He knows the player well from when he was a juvenile and, undoubtedly, he called to ask him to play because, at his age, he is a solid bet for now and the future.

Laporte was flattered but waited to see if he would get a call-up for France last week.

• The call never came and so the decision was made.
• "Go ahead," said the player. 

It's not an easy operation with the first step to get Spanish nationality involving getting a valid passport and having documentation approved by FIFA, including the waiver of a possible call from France.

Many will be hoping the process can be pushed through quickly as, within a month, Deschamps will be making another squad list and they need to prevent the player being caught between a rock and a hard place.

5:16 AM