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.
