INTERVIEW: AYMERICLAPORTE14_COLLECTOR

1. INTRODUCE YOURSELF . (NAME,SURNAME,LOCATION,SOCIAL MEDIA ALIAS NAME/ALSO WORDS ABOUT YOUR PROJECT)

Hi, my name is Nico, I come from Mainz in Germany. I go by the name of @aymericlaporte14_collector on Instagram.
I collect mainly cards and also other stuffs that specifically related to my football idol Aymeric Laporte. So my project is that I am posting an Aymeric Laporte card/ sticker from my personal collection each 2 days and tell the story within the card/ sticker.
Also once in a while I have some small short projects like currently before Laporte transfer to Athletic Club, I am posting only Athletic Bilbao cards until the transfer happens.

2. WHEN DID YOU START COLLECTING AND HOW/WHY?

I begin by collecting Match Attax cards since childhood for several years but then sadly I lost my collection when my family moved home. That's when my passion for collecting was gone. And so I thought until 2020 during the quarantine period of Covid pandemic that I was invited to a cards group and I saw these beautiful Topps and Panini cards even better than the Match Attax ones I used to know. And before I knew it my love for collecting is back. In the first 2 months I collect Manchester City cards and then so many other players like Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar, And I was kinda struggled to know how and what I should focus on collecting (cause there's too many cards and I can't afford them all). But then I realized that I should go with my idol and aim my collection to only him, the one and only




3. WHAT ARE YOUR MOST VALUABLE ITEMS ? NAME ONE WITH SENTIMENTAL VALUE AND ONE WITH MONEY VALUE.

Each of every card in my collection has a story of itself so for me every card/sticker holds a piece of my memory. That´s why I appreciate my cards all the same. But I can tell my 4 cards that tie closely to some of my best memories.

First is my first ever card that I got from eBay: Topps Now EPL 2018/19 Aymeric Laporte Heading for Glory. Aymeric Laporte scored probably the best goal in his City career that definitely defines the title that season. And that moment was captured perfectly in this card. I love the 2018/19 Fourmidables season when everyone saw Prime Laporte bullying attackers, setting up pre-assist and scoring headers for fun. And to top it up there was this exact moment that made me emotinally get off my seat when he scored. I recently got it graded by PSA and though it only got an 8, its history is far beyond any grade.

Second is my first ever autograph that I got for my collection, the Aymeric Laporte Aqua Autographs numbered to 49 from Topps Gold UCL 2021/22. Words cannot describe how I feel when I first saw its bid listing on eBay and then tried everything possible to try get it, even waited till the last second to win it. When I won it I celebrated like I´ve won the Champions League. What a memory it was! And also the fact that it´s part of the first rainbow I´ve finised makes it even more meaningful to me.

Thirdly is my first Laporte one of one card from the same Topps Gold UCL 2021/22 set. That is my first big purchase (about 100?) since I started collecting. Like the previous one I watched its auction till the last second and when I won it, gosh, it was one of the best feeling ever. That feeling lasted till when I first held it in my hand, I was like: I did it I got the one and only card in the world! Happy times! And recently it came back a PSA 10 making it my most valuable card money-wised also.

And finally is the biggest card that I opened myself 3 years ago from the Topps Manchester City Team Set 2021/22. It is Laporte autograph card on the red parallel to 10. I even recorded it on my phone and at that time I also screamed like I was scoring the winning goal at a World Cup! Also in that box contained a Cole Palmer rookie red to 10 so that box is my best luck since I started collecting.

That is all for sentimental value. And as for money value I think it will be both of my Aymeric Laporte 1/1 autograph from Topps Gold and Topps Mancheter City Team Set from the same season 2021/22. Those 2 are both graded PSA 10 so its money value will be very huge imo.

4. HOW MUCH DO YOU SPEND IN STICKERS/CARDS
WEEKLY/MONTHLY/YEARLY ?

When I was trying to have as many Laporte cards as possible earlier, I would spend every days watching eBay listing to see and buy anything I could get on that I didn´t have and could afford. So the amount I spent then is quite high but not too high cause Laporte cards and stickers are not as expensive as other footballers. Now that I have quite a lot of the cards of Laporte, the only thing I spend now is my time admiring my collection and picturing them for my account every 2 days. Sometimes maybe once a month I saw a Laporte that I haven´t got yet (normally high end stuffs) I would spend a portion of my budget for it.

5. WHICH TEAM DO YOU SUPPORT ?

I am a Manchester City and Bayer Leverkusen fan. I was born and my family are in Leverkusen so naturally I grew up supporting Die Werkself. As for City, I started watching Premier League football in 2012 and my favourite player back then was David Silva so I love watching Man City games and it grew on me I became a City fan. Also my favourite color is sky blue so it´s a factor when I firstly chose a team to support haha. The transfer of Laporte to Manchester City in 2018 was also one of my favourite moment as I love watching him since his Bilbao days and was manifesting for him to come to City and it ended up becoming true.



6. NAME YOUR FAVOURITE INSTAGRAM, TIK TOK AND X(TWITTER) ACCOUNTS, BESIDES YOURS !

Of course firstly is the goat account himself Aymeric Laporte and also the account of the clubs I support Manchester City an Bayer Leverkusen haha. And as for people´s social media haha I will try to shout out as much cool colletors I know in the hobby that I possibly: my ultimate middleman @hwc_trading_cards, my favourite UK streamer on Whatnot @degenuk, my favourite Griezmann collector @brongoballing, my favourite Dortmund collector @levins_tcg, my favourite Gavi colletor @onlygavicards, my favourite City collectors @elmagicotcg, @pokehects and @the_card_hub13, my favourite Nkunku collector @nkunku_collection, my friend @sorare_cards, my favourite CH helpers @longimanuscards and @tfcg_cardboreduk and finally my bros @jok32cards and @mainzer_autogrammsammler. I would also like to shoutout everyone of my 3000s followers I haven´t named that has been supporting me and my posts throughout the years. Appreciate all the love from everyone for me and my collection!

7. HOW DO YOU SEE THE FUTURE OF THE "HOBBY" ?

Though currently there are scammers and people buying cards only for the profit and not for true collecting but let face it it´s sort of like our society: there´s lovely people and there´s people who bring nothing but annoyance. Take me for example, if I collect for money profit then I would have left the hobby a long time ago. But I want to collect what I love and that is my idol Aymeric Laporte so there´s nothing in the world that can stop me from loving this hobby. Collect what you love and making friends along the way! That is the purest meaning of the hobby. So as long as there are still people who collect for the love of the sport or anything of their hobby, I think the hobby will continue to developed beautifully and passed down the passion and joy to our next generation!

8. DID YOU EVER TAKE PART IN ANY FOOTBALL STICKERS/CARDS FAIR ? IF YES, WHICH ONE ? DO YOU HAVE A FAIR YOU REALLY WANT TO GO TO ?

I have only taken part in 2 fairs in Germany since I started collecting and they were two times the Cardmadness in Düsseldorf and one time Cardvention in Kaiserlautern. They were all fantastic experiences where I got to chat with collectors and doing deals. Though I don´t get much cards and sometimes none new for my PC but all the talking and hanging out there, they are memories for life. For the future I would love to be part of a card fairs in other country like the UK, Spain or the US to get to know more collectors from around the world.




9. WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE BRAND (PANINI/TOPPS/UPPERDECK/ETC.) ? AND COLLECTION ?

I collect every Laporte cards so for me brands are not the issue. But I would say that I am a fan of Topps and Panini. They have all the licensed products and 90% of my cards are from these two. What funny is that most of my Laporte Man City rainbow are from Topps and most of my Laporte Spain rainbow are from Panini so these 2 brands are the front runners.
DAKA and Futera are two honorable mention as they got solid products and beautiful design to be honest. But the fact that Futera doesn't always have the license and also their parallel cards from a rainbow aren´t that different from each other is what makes them below Topps and Panini for me. As for DAKA though some of their design are top notch even prettier than Topps or Panini sometimes but it is too local to the Chinese market so I can´t come across that much cards from that company and some of their autograph cards are not that catchy to me.

10. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF STICKERSONE.COM ?

First of all, thank you very much for the invitation to do this interview. I love that you guy are creating a environment to get to know collectors and their stories more. That is not too common in recent collecting community. It is amazing what you guys do and hopefully you can keep this up so that not just me but also others have chances to tell stories and also know other fellow collectors stories. Thank you!

Actually Soccer