Aymeric Laporte shows great defensive skills at Athletic Bilbao
Laporte played under current Barca boss Ernesto Valverde for four years until he swapped the San Mames Stadium for the Nou Camp.
The defender has racked up over 150 appearances for Bilbao and won the league cup in 2015.
But the two La Liga heavyweights, Barca and Madrid, are keen to bolster their respective back-lines.
It is suggested that Barcelona have still yet to plug the void left by Carles Puyol, who hung his boots up in 2014.
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Aymeric Laporte has played over 150 games for Bilbao.
However, they do have Gerard Pique, Samuel Umtiti, Thomas Vermaelen and Javier Mascherano, although there have been whispers that the latter two could leave the club in the foreseeable future.
Real meanwhile, are still looking to replace Pepe who joined Besiktas in the summer.
Spanish publication Mundo Deportivo are reporting that Laporte would be put above Nacho and Jesus Vallejo in the Bernabeu pecking order if he joined.
But he would still be only providing cover for Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane.
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Laporte has impressed against Barcelona and Lionel Messi.
Laporte has a €65million (£58m) release clause in his contract, which could prove to be a stumbling block.
The France international’s contract runs until 2020 and the release clause will be raised to €75m (£67m) next summer.
If he was to depart Bilbao then he would leave as the most expensive defender in world football.
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