Marc Cucurella: Chelsea in advanced talks to sign Brighton left-back for £50m with Man City unwilling to meet asking price
Marc Cucurella joined Brighton for £15m last summer and was named as the club's player of the season after impressing in his debut campaign; Manchester City had a £30m bid for the left-back turned down last week but Chelsea willing to meet Brighton's £50m asking price
Wednesday 3 August 2022 19:47, UK
Chelsea are in advanced talks to sign Brighton left-back Marc Cucurella and are willing to pay the £50m asking price for the Manchester City target.
The Spaniard handed in a transfer request on Friday in a bid to push through a move to City but the Premier League champions will not pay Brighton's asking price, with Chelsea now in pole position to sign the 24-year-old.
The Seagulls had previously rejected a £30m bid for the full-back from Pep Guardiola's side, who are looking for a replacement for Oleksandr Zinchenko after he joined Arsenal.
Cucurella enjoyed a hugely successful first Premier League season after joining from Getafe in a deal worth around £15m last summer and was named Brighton's player of the season.
Brighton do not want to let Cucurella leave and it would take a huge offer for them to sell as he has four years remaining on his contract at the Amex. However, the left-back has now pushed for a move by asking to be sold.
Chelsea have now moved for Cucurella with doubts surrounding the future of left-back Marcos Alonso, with Barcelona reportedly wanting to sign the 31-year-old this summer. Blues captain Cesar Azpilicueta is also wanted by the Spanish giants with the defender having one year left on his deal.
First-choice left-back Ben Chilwell, who joined from Leicester in August 2020 for £50m, missed the majority of last season with a knee injury but has returned to full fitness in pre-season.
Thomas Tuchel's side have made two signings this summer with the arrivals of Raheem Sterling for £47.5m from City and defender Kalidou Koulibaly from Napoli in a £33m deal.
City in tug-of-war with Chelsea for Cucurella?
Sky Sports chief news reporter Kaveh Solhekol speaking on The Transfer Show:
"Chelsea are prepared to pay £50m for Marc Cucurella, something Manchester City were not willing to pay.
"The player himself wanted a move to Manchester City, but I think he is quite happy to go to Chelsea as well. If he moved to Stamford Bridge, he'd still be getting Champions League football.
"Chelsea are getting close to signing him, and they are also interested in Denzel Dumfries, the Inter Milan full-back, but they could be priced out of a deal for him.
"Inter are asking for 50m euros for a player they signed for 15m euros. There is also no way Chelsea are going to pay Leicester's asking price of £80m for Wesley Fofana."
'Chelsea transfer business has been scattered'
Sky Sports News senior reporter Melissa Reddy speaking on The Transfer Show:
"Chelsea's approach this summer has been quite scattered. We've seen the words 'Chelsea are interested in', and 'Chelsea are trying to hijack' quite a lot.
"We do know their priority was to strengthen their defensive areas and Thomas Tuchel came out during his pre-season tour and was quite forthright about not being happy about not having all of his targets in yet.
"Understandably when there's so much change around the scenes, it's never going to be as streamlined as usual when you have a new co-owner coming in as well in effect the sporting director."
Sky in Italy: Napoli in Kepa talks
Napoli are in talks with Chelsea over the loan signing of goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga, according to Sky in Italy.
The west London club have indicated they will pay three-quarters of his salary, with discussions centring around a number of bonuses that Chelsea are asking for as part of the deal.
Napoli are currently reluctant to pay them and intermediaries involved in the deal are working to find a solution.
Chelsea paid a world record transfer fee for a goalkeeper by signing Kepa for £71.6m from Athletic Bilbao in August 2018.
But the 27-year-old has failed to impress during his time at Stamford Bridge, having made just four Premier League appearances last season as the club's second-choice behind Edouard Mendy.
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