Marc Cucurella

[richards30]

Totally agree.

The whole career and ambition line i think was very telling.

 

[ancoats]

I think Brighton know he wants to go it’s just that they aren’t going to let him unless City meet their valuation. It’s fair enough we did the same with Ake and Chelsea.

It is, but why city messing about with the transfer fee, just pay the asking price or move on
does not do both the player and city any good in the media or with Brighton and their fans toward the city fans

 

[St.Pauli support]

Some similarities but not really the same.
Ake wanted to move from the best team in England to the third best team for more playing time. I’m sure he’s OK with staying now that the move has broken down.
Cucurella to City is a dream move for the player and moves his career into a different stratosphere.
He’ll be devastated if it breaks down.

But only for 3 days, then he'll get a grip, thinks about his legal contract valid til 2026 and puts in a shift for what he loves - footy.

All this status behaviour - or may I call it cock comparison - is boring childish. Cucurella won't make or break or season.

I wouldn't take it as a defeat if we sign our targeted player for 50m, we have the budget. If not, so what.

 

[houraisen]

At least they didn't say "not for sale".
I patiently await the good news.

 

[Cobwebcat]

It is, but why city messing about with the transfer fee, just pay the asking price or move on
does not do both the player and city any good in the media or with Brighton and their fans toward the city fans

It’s so difficult to know from the outside looking in. We all imagine ourselves on the phone to Bloom and it seems so easy but there will be a lot more to it.

Our business so far has been great it just seems this one has been left hanging for too long and positions have become entrenched.

We need someone but, quite rightly, we won’t just buy anyone and we won’t be seen to be overpaying or it sets a precedent we were moving away from.

It looks like City were happy to be pushovers until we established ourselves but, now we have, the tables are turned. Now everyone wants to come here and City are using that as a lever.

 

[failsworthblueboy]

Of course we are, we’d have leaked us moving on if it wasn’t the case.

Cheers mate.

 

[Coatigan]

Some similarities but not really the same.
Ake wanted to move from the best team in England to the third best team for more playing time. I’m sure he’s OK with staying now that the move has broken down.
Cucurella to City is a dream move for the player and moves his career into a different stratosphere.
He’ll be devastated if it breaks down.

Not sure if that really matters that much to Brighton as such, they would expect him to be professional regarless, as we would of Ake if he was desperate to leave but the valuation was way off.

Think the bigger difference is the value itself, relative to both what each club paid for their player and what it would cost to replace them. We paid 40m for Ake. If we got 50m for him, marginal profit for a player with a settled role, and probably as much to replace him. They paid 15m for Cucu, they will at the very least double it, if not tripple it, and they can easily replace him and still bank 25m+. So obviously they are more keen to sell than we were, and that is why the negotiations on the fee are still happening, whereas we just said its that or its over.

 

[CFMCFC]

Just wondering if we should look at this differently and look for a right back. We have Joao and Josh for left plus Nathan can play it, that just leaves Kyle whos 32 now and young Lewis for the right back spot. Could argue thats more pressing is we think Joao is better on the left.

Need a proper LB to get the best from Grealish and Haaland I reckon.

 

[Churchlawtonblue]

Brighton lurker here…often pop on to other club’s forums to have a look at anything BHA related but don’t often post (tried on WACCOE once but they’re an absolute bunch of *****). Mix of views and opinions on here not really any different at all to our board really - lots of sensible, interesting stuff interspersed with as usual a bit of nonsense.

Anyway, re Cucurella, we (fans) would be absolutely gutted to lose him. Rare for Potter to drop a new (and young) recruit straight into the first team but he did with Marc and he’s been outstanding since his second game (first game was a bit crap). I don’t disagree (unlike some of our lot) that we are a ‘selling club’ - pretty much all clubs are if a bigger dog comes along, and it’s an integral part of the club’s strategy to sell players to become sustainable anyway (whether top/emerging talent or output from our academy). The club won’t stand in the way of players capable of playing at a higher level (White, Bissouma so far) as this is integral to attracting decent younger players in the first place. As we continue to improve our own position, the clubs that are ‘higher level’ than us obviously become fewer - for example when Villa were rumoured to be getting Bissouma, that would have pissed most of us off. Spurs not so much.

Thing with our owner though (who is a several-generation devoted fan) is that whilst we’ll never compete with the likes of City financially, he’s not short of a few quid and has so far been happy to put hundreds of millions into the club and is under no pressure at all to sell (he continues to fund losses - 70m last season - until we become ‘sustainable’). Add being a professional poker player to being a successful businessman and you’re negotiating with someone who doesn’t **** around. He’ll have a price in mind for Cucurella, and (as we saw with White - Leeds then Arsenal dicked around with lowball offers) if it’s not met then he simply won’t sell.

I’ve no doubt Cucu is good enough, and also understand why he’d love to work with Pep and play CL football but he also doesn’t seem like the kind of guy to down tools if it doesn’t happen. He’s also been very open about his difficulties in getting settled in the UK with his young family. I think the deal will happen if City meet Bloom’s valuation - if it does the majority of BHA fans will genuinely wish him well and be grateful we were able to be part of his development (it’s been very much this with Bissouma).

Footnote re the ‘post Covid‘ game……I was there and it was a bit surreal all round to be honest. No idea why Foden got booed either.

Good post. If it happens then great, if it doesn't then so be it.

PS I think the biggest threat to BHA is another club poaching Potter.

 

[not my fault!]

So what we thinking, deal struck Wednesday, Thursday medical and announcement on the Friday? Him sat in the stands Saturday to watch us lift the first trophy of the season?