Manchester City found themselves in a difficult position earlier in this transfer window.
Pep Guardiola does not like to keep unhappy players and the offer of more regular first team football at his former club was tempting for Nathan Ake, yet losing the Dutchman would weaken the centre-back position that had already creaked at the end of last season. It was decided that City would need to line up an alternative as well as holding out for at least £50m for the transfer to happen.
Despite reports of ever-increasing confidence of a deal from the Chelsea end, it was called off before City went on their pre-season tour because the West London club would not meet the valuation. Even if the Blues could have wiggled on the fee, the scarcity of available alternatives on the market made it an easy decision if Chelsea wouldn't stump up the cash.
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Just a few weeks on and City are being told by Brighton that if they want to buy left-back Marc Cucurella as the replacement they need for Oleksandr Zinchenko then they will have to pay £50m. And because transfers do not happen in vacuums, the Seagulls can point to Txiki Begiristain's red lines on Ake to underline their point.
The two situations are not identical, meaning there is a possibility that the fee could be negotiated down if City show willing to go up. Brighton's chairman Tony Bloom, a famous poker player, knows the value of risk and reward and there will be a point where he considers it a better option to sell.
Yet if City held all the best cards with Ake, Brighton are in the same seat with Cucurella — a player on a long-term contract at the Amex who is not expected to sulk if he doesn't get a move. The selling club do not need to sell, so have every right to hold out for a premium price even if the private reality is more nuanced than the public posturing.
Brighton's strategy is bold but does carry a risk: if City have on occasion met the asking price — such as with Kyle Walker in 2017 — on multiple occasions they have simply walked away from the deal; Jorginho and Harry Maguire spring to mind. On those occasions City rarely come back a second summer, and Stuttgart's Borna Sosa is among their alternatives lined up if they cannot land Cucurella.
City's recruitment team have that as one of their few remaining chips: how much profit does a club that had never taken in more than £15m for a sale before last summer want to hold out for with someone who they only paid £15.4m for? If 50 is better than 40, isn't 40 better than nothing at all and having to reintegrate an unhappy player into the squad.
With the Premier League starting in two weeks, City must decide how badly and how quickly they want Cucurella before they try to find the tell from Brighton they are looking for to facilitate a transfer.
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