Of all the players leaving Manchester City this summer, Aymeric Laporte was the quietest departure.

A low fee, few interested clubs, no transfer saga, and a replacement already brought in ensured that Laporte's departure after five years largely went under the radar. He had found himself out of the City starting XI in the final months of the treble-winning campaign and declared that he didn't enjoy the triumphs as much as he wanted to because he was mainly watching from the bench.

When City signed Josko Gvardiol for £77.5m and declared he was a signing for the next decade, Laporte knew his time was up. It wasn't a surprise that he left the Etihad, more that no club in Europe felt he was worth the bargain price of £23.6m.

But in Gvardiol, City have a centre-back ready for the new era, and he is a logical replacement for Laporte. He's already showing what he can do for Pep Guardiola that Laporte couldn't.

ALSO READ: Man City defender Josko Gvardiol outlines what Pep Guardiola has already improved in his game

Guardiola regularly talked up Laporte as a player who had a unique skillset in the City defence of picking a pass that broke the lines and set the side on the attack quickly. Laporte's eye for a forward ball was unrivalled, and City will miss that trait now he has gone.

But he wasn't picked for much of last season and City won the treble. Guardiola preferred to let his centre-backs and full-backs carry the ball into midfield themselves, or move into the central areas and take the pass from their defensive colleagues, before linking up with the midfielders.

The ball was reaching the same areas that Laporte regularly picked out. It just took an extra pass and a bit more movement, but with that came less risk of interception. Laporte can claim a role in the evolution of City's tactics, but it ultimately froze him out of the side.

Now Gvardiol will rival Nathan Ake as the left-footed centre-back capable of playing on the left. Ake spent a lot of last season at left-back, but has been in the centre at the start of this campaign with Gvardiol at left-back as he gets used to the system. Guardiola admitted that he would prefer to have waited to throw Gvardiol in, but injuries accelerated the plan.

Still, Gvardiol spoke this week at how he is already learning from his manager, citing a 'calmness' on the ball as something he has picked up and taken into his international camp.

"The most important thing is that I brought a dose of calmness to the game of the national team," he said. "This is what is required of me: to move forward as simply as possible and do the defensive part with [Josip] Šutalo.

"We can see calmness with the ball in every player, they are not afraid to play with the ball. This is what makes Manchester City special."

Gvardiol has looked bright in flashes on his first three starts for City, with clips of him driving into midfield promoted by the club to show his capability of inverting from left-back or centre-back.

A feature with club media asked Gvardiol to pick his best Croatian XI to play in the Premier League, and after picking a centre-back partnership of Dejan Lovren and Vedran Corluka, the youngster put himself out of position at left-back.

"I'm going to put myself on the left side as a full-back," he said. "When I was young I played as well as a left-back, also as a number six. I changed a lot of positions. At the end, at the age of 19, I started to play as a central defender. It's just my position, it suits me perfect."

So it's clear Gvardiol sees himself in the centre, but his history on the left and as a number six gives fans an exciting glimpse into the player he could become. If he adds that calmness in bringing the ball forward, he can give Guardiola what Laporte simply couldn't.

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