Brighton CEO Paul Barber has reiterated that the club have not received a bid for Manchester City target Marc Cucurella, but he did leave open the possibility that the left-back could leave the Seagulls.
City are hoping to make the 23-year-old Spaniard their fifth signing for the new season, following the arrivals of Erling Haaland, Julian Alvarez, Kalvin Phillips and Stefan Ortega. Left-back has long been a problem position for City, although admittedly one that a combination of Joao Cancelo and Oleksandr Zinchenko appeared to have solved over the past couple of seasons.
However, Pep Guardiola is keen to have a natural left-footer playing in the position, with Cucurella seen as an upgrade on Zinchenko. There have been reports that City would entertain offers for the Ukrainian, while Zinchenko himself is believed to be open to the right move.
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If City want Cucurella, they are likely going to have to pay a hefty fee — at least £50m according to some reports. Brighton are reluctant to sell their player of the season who only joined the club last summer, with some reports suggesting that they are in the early stages of negotiating a new contract.
Earlier this week Brighton chairman Tony Bloom revealed that his side have received no bids for Cucurella, and according to Barber that is still the case.
"We haven't had a bid [for Cucurella] and obviously he was our double player of the year, so he had a fantastic season," he said.
However, the CEO did admit that his club are 'realistic' when it comes to top clubs like City showing interest in their players.
"We are very, very happy with Marc and he has done a great job since coming in here. And obviously we don't want to sell our players. But we are also very realistic and we will see what happens."
City have been uncharacteristically slow in kicking-off negotiations, and while reports of a £50m-plus price tag are off-putting, they should take confidence from Barber's comments. At the end of the day, if City want Cucurella, they will likely get him.
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