In the early hours of Thursday morning, Manchester City fans caught a glimpse of how Marc Cucurella would fit into the team, despite him still being a Brighton player.
Following the agreement to sell Oleksandr Zinchenko to Arsenal for around £30m, City submitted an official bid for the Spanish left-back. Brighton rejected the offer reported to be £30m, refusing to drop that far below their £50m asking price. City will return with a fresh offer, but it is believed they will walk away if Brighton refuse to budge.
After City beat Club America 2-1 in the first match of their pre-season tour of the US, Pep Guardiola admitted that the club are trying to sign a replacement for Zinchenko - he did not name Cucurella - but if they do not then he still has options for the position.
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"We are trying but it doesn't mean it's going to happen," Guardiola said. "If it doesn't happen we have alternatives with Joao [Cancelo], Josh [Wilson-Esbrand] is a young talent, Nathan [Ake] can play there. We will see what happens."
Cancelo started Thursday's match in Houston but was replaced at half-time by 19-year-old Wilson-Esbrand. The young left-back impressed, but even if he doesn't feature for City this season, he showed how Guardiola would use Cucurella should City manage to get their transfer target.
In contrast to Cancelo's tendency to drift inside as an 'inverted' full-back, Wilson-Esbrand is very much a traditional attacking left-back who likes to make overlapping runs and offer real width to attacking moves.
While Cancelo was excellent last season, City did at times suffer from a lack of width when he was on the left. City's dramatic final day win to secure the Premier League title is a great example - when Zinchenko came on and pushed Cancelo to the right of defence, the width the former gave allowed City to stretch the defence and create more openings.
Wilson-Esbrand is also an excellent crosser of the ball with his left foot, a quality he shares with Cucurella. When Cancelo plays, nine times out of 10 he will cut inside and cross with his favoured right foot, something which is predictable and easier to defend against.
The EDS regular grabbed an assist on his senior City debut last season, crossing for Riyad Mahrez to score in a 6-1 defeat of Wycombe in the Carabao Cup. He provided one excellent cross against Club America, but Liam Delap could only fire over.
"He needs time, but the quality he has with the ball, aggressive, he has the potential to be with us," Guardiola said of Wilson-Esbrand. "We have to be calm because when one young player has many injuries last two seasons it's always in his mind. Step by step, he can do it."
Whether he ends up making it at City or not, the youngster has shown just why Guardiola is keen to have a natural-sided left-back in his squad this season.
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