Manchester City want to sign a left-back in the summer transfer window and expect to sign one. If they don't, having allowed Oleksandr Zinchenko to join Arsenal, it will be a rare but significant blip in an otherwise productive summer
Plan A is to sign Marc Cucurella from Brighton, the 24-year-old educated at La Masia that seems an ideal fit for the football Pep Guardiola plays. However, there remains a big difference between what City say they are willing to pay for him and what Brighton say they are willing to accept.
If that gap proves unable to be bridged, there have already been noises from the Etihad that they will turn their attentions elsewhere. Stuttgart defender Borna Sosa is one other name on the shortlist. City pulled something similar two years ago when Kaldiou Koulibaly was chased for the majority of the summer before they signed Ruben Dias instead.
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Plan C is to sign nobody and do as Guardiola said last week: start Joao Cancelo, have cover with Aymeric Laporte and Nathan Ake, and then use the promising Josh Wilson-Esbrand if needed. For all the shortage of specialists, Cancelo is one of the best full-backs in the world and has one of the best fitness levels of any player in the league.
Despite the obvious plus in Cancelo, this option would not be sustainable over the season. Injuries can strike at any time, City are hardly overflowing with centre-backs to be able to play one on the left, while including Wilson-Esbrand as a major option would be a departure from Guardiola's thinking for his entire six years at the club - Phil Foden had won two Premier League titles before he was trusted as an established member of the senior squad.
However, the nature of the calendar means that Plan C should be workable for the next month. Before the transfer window closes on September 1, City face Liverpool in the Community Shield and then five matches across 31 August days including three weeks with no midweek match (not counting the daft friendly in Barcelona).
Even if City would be silly to play the season without the left-back replacement they have targeted, they do have a month where they can get by without proper cover for Cancelo that can help their transfer negotiations. Time changes valuations, and while Brighton look unlikely to budge on Cucurella that does give a full month for Txiki Begiristain to line up another deal and then decide whether Plan A or Plan B is the route they want to go down.
City have benefitted from getting the majority of their business done early this summer, but while the sooner they bring in a left-back the better they can at least afford not to panic if their hunt for a defender goes into the final weeks and days of the window.
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