Brighton have walked away from talks with Manchester City over the potential transfer of Spanish defender Marc Cucurella, following frustration with City’s negotiating tactics, according to The Athletic’s Andy Naylor.
Cucurella, who joined Brighton from Getafe in 2021 for a fee in the region of £15m, is valued at £50m by the Seagulls. Manchester City were made aware of the valuation when they first expressed interest in the player, and Brighton have been clear that there will be no negotiation on their side.
City’s latest offer is reported to be around £30m, while they were willing to go as high as £40m – still well short of Brighton’s desired fee.
Having signed a five-year deal last year, Cucurella is certainly not in a position to force through a move, though he reportedly handed in an official transfer request on Friday in an attempt to do so.
Ultimately, City have no leverage to force Brighton to sell below their established valuation. Simultaneously, it has been reported that Brighton are negotiating an improved contract to keep Cucurella at the club.
Brighton sold Ben White to Arsenal for £50m last summer and view Cucurella as a “rarer and better talent” than the English defender. Cucurella started 35 matches last season, scoring once and assisting once.
He has taken the long road to stardom, choosing to leave boyhood club Barcelona at 20 to join Eibar. 12 months later he moved to Getafe where he spent three seasons before making the switch to the Premier League last summer.
He made his international debut for Spain in a 4-0 win over Lithuania last June.
Manchester City have spent almost £100m on new players this summer – notably the signings of Leeds midfielder Kalvin Phillips and Dortmund forward Erling Haaland – but have also raised more in sales.
The double sale of Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus to Arsenal raised around £75m, while Raheem Sterling’s departure for Chelsea raised another £47m.
Cucurella is keen to make the move, and expected to easily agree terms should the deal reach that stage, but City’s attempts to reduce the fee led to Brighton calling it off.
Yesterday City boss Pep Guardiola refused to directly acknowledge the ongoing talks for Cucurella, saying “he’s a Brighton player. I cannot say anything else.”
Guardiola did hint at interest though, adding “if it’s possible [to strengthen we will] but if not, we stay with the players we have. Joao [Cancelo]can play there, Josh [Wilson-Esbrand] can play there, Nathan [Ake] can play there. I never complain about the squad I have since the first season. It is always for the benefit of the club, not for me, and I support the club.”
It remains to be seen whether the deal is indeed dead or if this is simply a tactic by Brighton to compel City to raise their bid.
