For those of a sky blue persuasion, among a number of highlights, the commanding centre-back is fondly remembered for his ability to score goals and produce phenomenal performances in vital moments.
This is perfectly reflected by his habit of scoring crucial goals in sky blue – including strikes in League Cup final successes (2021) and Premier League title securers (4-1 win at Brighton in 2019).
With this in mind, perhaps it’s no surprise Pep Guardiola would turn to the silky defender when needing to add vital experience and expertise into his side either from the bench or from the off last term.
His first appearance of the term came in our epic 6-3 victory over Manchester United at the Etihad Stadium in October which signalled an impressive personal league campaign thanks to his positive personality on and off the pitch.
Across the Premier League’s entire roster, he led for progressive ball carries (17.2) and distance (204 meters) per 90 in 2022/23.
What’s more, in terms of average total ball carry distance, his tally of 270 meters per 90 was the most of any defenders and only bettered by Jack Grealish and Newcastle’s Allan Saint-Maxamin overall.
As the season progressed, 23 outings for Club and country followed (including three matches at the 2022 World Cup) before he was handed starts in huge back-to-back league fixtures with Leeds and Everton in April.
Having comprehensively beaten title rivals Arsenal (4-1) two games earlier and recorded a hard-fought win over Fulham in our previous outing (2-1), City viewed the matches with the Whites and Toffees as vital tests if we were to claim a third successive Premier League title.
Thanks to the Spanish defender’s performances in fantastic team performances, Guardiola’s team passed with flying colours.
Against Sam Allardyce’s side in the first of the two assignments, Laporte marshalled the backline expertly as we recorded a 2-1 success thanks to Ilkay Gundogan’s first-half brace.
He then impressively repeated the trick at a raucous Goodison Park as our captain scored twice more alongside Erling Haaland’s strike which helped secure a 3-0 win on Merseyside.
The valuable three points over Sean Dyche’s team proved to be enough to seal the league crown with the Gunners’ loss to Nottingham Forest the following week confirming our status as champions.
This was, of course, the first of our historic Treble and Laporte certainly played his part in our FA Cup success by recording the second most passes in the competition among his teammates.
Then at Wembley, in the first-ever all Manchester final, he was introduced in the closing stages to help see out our famous 2-1 win.
Victory in Istanbul followed a week later as we won the maiden Champions League trophy in our illustrious 129-year history with Laporte featuring four times en route to the showpiece.
Laporte expressed his positivity on the ball once again in the prestigious tournament throughout the group and knockout stages.
His total of 15.7 line-breaking passes per 90 minutes was the second most of any defender who had played at least 200 minutes – bettered only by Nathan Ake (17.5).
As the curtain fell on the 2022/23 campaign in the most wonderful of circumstances, the 29-year-old has now won 12 trophies during his impressive stay at the Etihad Stadium so far.
