Marc Cucurella

[bobbyowenquiff]

Could also see both Walker and a recognised left back playing with Cancelo in midfield, just ahead of the full backs.

I think Cancelo could be great on the left hand side of midfield. It would be worth an experiment, especially if Grealish doesn't step up and continues to pass backwards so much. Cancelo has great movement and can get to the byeline as good as anyone in our team. Bernardo did this well on the right yesterday after KDB went off.

 

[Kamaro011]

Watch that we will not paid up what Brighton asked for and City will not look another LB on the market until next transfer windows.

Fans will be outraged but the board will not care, they already doing this kind of thing in the past why it should any different?

 

[hihosilva]

Teams have been targeting our left side for a few seasons now, especially the better ones, for example Real Madrid. We need a specialist left back who can defend as well as he attacks. Ake did a great job yesterday coming across to cover that left side when Cancelo was not in position. But that stretched Dias and that's where Nunez got space. Cancelo is a fantastic right-sided wingback but not a defensive left back in my view.

I felt we were being targeted both side. The problem for me was Grealish & Mahrez were not working hard enough to cover those threats.

 

[Jokithedruid]

Who knows. Lots will be going on behind the scenes and City may have communicated to his agent we will try once more with a slight improvement and if that is rejected then we will not go any higher.

Remember our leak a few days ago: We were ready to walk away from the deal. After that we started to hear reports from spain about us working on a deal for Grimaldo.

I think we made a final ”take it or leave it bid” with that leak, Cucurella tried his best with the TR and Brighton rejected it on Saturday.

We’ve probably already moved on to another target, and Grimaldo seems like the next one IMO.

 

[BAB.DAB]

Will see tomorrow whether it was worded correctly or badly

Why tomorrow?
32 days left in this transfer window

 

[bobbyowenquiff]

Spot on bobby and my point exactly.

Klopp knew exactly what he was doing and brought Nunez on precisely to get into that space between the stretched centre backs. I am sure Pep knows where his problems are. Losing Laporte from the left side will only make us weaker. It needs tackling urgently.

 

[carlosthejackal]

Number of people on here who are privy to the workings of City’s and Brightons boards is remarkable.

 

[TB369]

Playing Cancelo on the left works against weaker teams because of the talent we have in other areas. When we play teams on the same level to us he gets exposed by them. Cucurella being a la maisa graduate he will be used to playing the type of football we do, so he will settle in faster. We might need to bite the bullet and pay the £50 million to help retain the premier league and sacrifice the net spend fc trophy.

 

[skillman]

The issue with paying up now is that other clubs will see it as a precedent of ‘name a price, hold out and they will pay it’.

Obviously we know when we’ve walked away in the past - Sanchez, Koulibaly, Maguire for example - but football clubs will see the most recent one and see it as the way to negotiate.

Txiki has had a lot of shit (me included) in the past for targeting release clauses but this is why, it’s such a simpler negotiation and means not meeting issues like this.

But then he’s banged in a transfer request, can we really be seen to turn our back on a player who has done that presuming the instruction has come from us in the hope of lowering the fee?

 

[CityBluez]

Just a thought… maybe Pep played him on the left yesterday to send a message to get Cucurella signed? It was clear to anyone watching that we need someone there. Just possibly this was Pep saying look, get this signing over the line so we can stop fucking about.

We have no choice. If not cancelo then who. Last and the previous seasons when cancelo dropped off we got zinchenko. I am not saying cucurella will solve all the problems but we need a LB. And I think we should pay for it. We cant go into the season depending only on cancelo