Manchester City identifies Brighton’s Marc Cucurella as their top transfer target to give their defense a major boost
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Manchester City are poised to bid for Brighton’s Marc Cucurella, their top target at left-back. Pep Guardiola is determined to sign his fellow Catalan after being impressed by his performances in the Premier League.
Cucurella joined Brighton from Getafe last August, after a spell at Barcelona in which he did not progress beyond the B team. City’s interest is well established and their first offer is expected within days.
Brighton stands to make a sizeable profit if they sell Cucurella, who joined for £15.4 million last summer. Although Oleksandr Zinchenko and the right-footed João Cancelo played successfully at left-back last season to help City to the title, Guardiola wants another specialist in the position. Benjamin Mendy is indefinitely suspended.
Since Benjamin Mendy was arrested last summer Manchester City have operated without a natural left-back. Oleksandr Zinchenko has filled in manfully for a number of years now, and Joao Cancelo made the position his own last season to the point where he was named in the PFA Team of the Year by his peers.
But now Zinchenko is wanted elsewhere with Arsenal and West Ham two sides already linked, and while Cancelo has the versatility to play on either side of defence, more depth is a natural requirement for the club.
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Graham Potter is reluctant to lose Cucurella who made 38 appearances in what was an extremely impressive first season in English football having joined from Getafe in a £15.4m deal last summer. However, the lure of working with Guardiola may be too strong for Cucurella while Potter will be hoping a big transfer fee could see him re-invest in the current Albion squad.
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Sujeeth Shetty
(766 Articles Published)