Craig Burley was full of praise for a player Manchester City sold in 2023 due to his impressive showings at the European Championship.

One former City player who was recently lauded was Cole Palmer — who Rodri claimed will become a “top player” in the future after his equaliser in Spain’s 2-1 win against England in the Euro 2024 final.

Palmer registered one goal and an assist at the tournament — despite not being started even once by Gareth Southgate in Germany.

The Chelsea winger’s goal contributions emerged in the semi-final against the Netherlands and the final against Spain — highlighting that he does not shy away from playing at the big stage.

Another player who left the Etihad Stadium in the summer of 2023 like Palmer and went on to have a terrific Euro 2024 campaign was Aymeric Laporte.

Craig Burley hails how well Aymeric Laporte played for Spain at Euro 2024

Laporte perhaps did not get the credit he merits for his displays despite winning the tournament with Spain — as exemplified by the fact that he did not make the cut for the Team of the Tournament.

But the 30-year-old, who spent five years as a Manchester City player provided a sense of resoluteness and defensive security to Luis de la Fuente’s side — giving the likes of Lamine Yamal, Nico Williams and Dani Olmo the freedom to express themselves further forward.

Jack Grealish also marvelled at his former City teammate’s displays — commenting, ‘What a player’ on his post-match Instagram post after the European Championship final.

Craig Burley lauded Laporte for his splendid performances for Spain at Euro 2024.

Burley said via ESPN FC: “I thought [Aymeric] Laporte was excellent and he’s another player, ‘Oh, he’s playing in Saudi Arabia, he won’t be able to play to that level’, well, he did.”

While Aymeric Laporte remains brilliant, Man City were fair to sell him

With how well Laporte fared for Spain at Euro 2024, as Craig Burley, many will naturally wonder why Manchester City sold him in the first place.

However, since the start of the 2022/2023 season — where the Al-Nassr centre-back lost his place in City’s side — Pep Guardiola started to favour his left-footed defenders playing at left-back.

Unlike the likes of Nathan Ake and Josko Gvardiol, Laporte is not at his brilliant best in such areas of the pitch, as his athleticism and defending out wide are not his finest traits.

Ake and Gvardiol, on the other, are proficient at defending out wide, which explains why they have seemingly found the move to left-back quite seamless.

However, Laporte looks like he is still one of the best defenders in world football — despite spending one full season in the Saudi Pro League and ideally, he should still be playing for a top club in Europe.