Marc Cucurella

[penalty spot]

Totally agree that a failure to find a deal for a position we clearly need to fill if the difference is just £10m would be a failure on our side.

Txiki, Omar and Ferran are paid the money they are to find a way in these scenarios.

That said - there’s nothing to suggest we’re walking away.

If anything, taking that Brighton mouthpiece bloke at face value (which is a mistake, in my book), it’s them who are refusing to engage with City’s attempts to find a deal. That suggests we’re very much at the table - but Brighton are refusing to play.

Having said all of that, it’s just pure bluff and bluster anyway. He’s nothing more than Tony Bloom’s PR operation - paid to keep his man in the news.

I suspect it’s all a bluff, and I still think we’ll find a deal.

Not to would be a complete fuck up on both sides now - like you say.

We have to pay 50m they're not interested in add one etc and have withdrawn from talks.

 

[Kaki]

Our ceo said the price was higher than intitially reported due to spurs wanting to keep it quiet so I reckon it’s around £35m but who knows . The transfer window is still open but I think that we feel like we can replace bissouma internally with Macallister

From my understanding, Spurs told their sources about the £25m fee, which is the upfront payment, since typically fans will take the first fee and quote it everywhere. It's a successful tactic and it's technically not lying, it just misses out the £10m add-ons that were later reported by Sky, Naylor etc.
Bissouma was replaced 18 months ago, little fella called Caicedo. He was expected to go last summer but it ended up not happening, so the replacement played alongside him. Bissouma is nowhere near as big a loss as Cucurella would be, so if he does go I expect immediate re-investment.
The Brighton model of signing foreign, unknown talent and hoping that at least some of them blossom into top players has worked out very well, as long as Brighton remain a solid Prem team I don't see a reason to shift to a model that only the top teams can really pull off where they pay big fees for established players.

 

[JewelZee]

Can anyone confirm that Cucurella's decision to put in a transfer request actually saves Brighton a tangible amount of money? Because if that's the case how can Brighton not reduce their price to City by the same amount? Let's assume they were to save 2 million. By keeping the ask at 50 mil they would be in essence netting 52 mil under this scenario. Then it just reeks of spitefulness and for me sends a clear message to City of go fuck yourself. Which is fine. But a bad long game to play by Brighton.

BTW, I firmly believe City would make it up to MC for leaving money on the table at Brighton in helping him get here.

 

[Kaki]

Can anyone confirm that Cucurella's decision to put in a transfer request actually saves Brighton a tangible amount of money? Because if that's the case how can Brighton not reduce their price to City by the same amount? Let's assume they were to save 2 million. By keeping the ask at 50 mil they would be in essence netting 52 mil under this scenario. Then it just reeks of spitefulness and for me sends a clear message to City of go fuck yourself. Which is fine. But a bad long game to play by Brighton.

BTW, I firmly believe City would make it up to MC for leaving money on the table at Brighton in helping him get here.

We have no idea what kind of loyalty bonus he gave up with the request unfortunately, I would expect it to be no more than 2m like you said, which is probably insignificant in the grand scheme of things.
All of this just reeks of Cucu's agent using every tactic to push the move, including telling Romano what to post. That's absolutely fine as it's just business, but it doesn't seem to have had the intended impact so it's a pretty easy solution now. Pay or don't, both clubs will move on from either scenario and it won't be a big deal at all.
From my perspective I would absolutely love him to stay, but every player dreams of winning things and there is no place better to do that than Man City, especially if he can play at the World Cup because of it. We love Cucu and seeing him succeed at the top would be incredible personally.

 

[joshr]

From my understanding, Spurs told their sources about the £25m fee, which is the upfront payment, since typically fans will take the first fee and quote it everywhere. It's a successful tactic and it's technically not lying, it just misses out the £10m add-ons that were later reported by Sky, Naylor etc.
Bissouma was replaced 18 months ago, little fella called Caicedo. He was expected to go last summer but it ended up not happening, so the replacement played alongside him. Bissouma is nowhere near as big a loss as Cucurella would be, so if he does go I expect immediate re-investment.
The Brighton model of signing foreign, unknown talent and hoping that at least some of them blossom into top players has worked out very well, as long as Brighton remain a solid Prem team I don't see a reason to shift to a model that only the top teams can really pull off where they pay big fees for established players.

Caicedo wont replace bissouma

 

[Nicholas van Whatsisface]

We have to pay 50m they're not interested in add one etc and have withdrawn from talks.

That would be taking that Brighton journo entirely at face value, yes - which I’ve already said I think is a mistake.

I guess we’ll know either way soon enough - at the moment it’s all just noise.

You can choose to believe what you chose to believe mate.

 

[Kaki]

Caicedo wont replace bissouma

He already has. Macallister plays a deeper role like you mentioned, but Caicedo has already been the deepest midfielder when required (2nd half of the West Ham game for example).

 

[andyhinch]

Cancelo, Walker and Zinchenko. That setup barely got City past last season.

Cancelo, Walker alone, that’s just asking for problems. Hopefully City do a “Dias” and move for an option swiftly.

Ps. I don’t count Esbrand as he’s barely played 5 senior games. He’s fourth choice at best.

I’ve already written the season off, just going to go and enjoy the beer and pies :-)

 

[Nicholas van Whatsisface]

Can anyone confirm that Cucurella's decision to put in a transfer request actually saves Brighton a tangible amount of money? Because if that's the case how can Brighton not reduce their price to City by the same amount? Let's assume they were to save 2 million. By keeping the ask at 50 mil they would be in essence netting 52 mil under this scenario. Then it just reeks of spitefulness and for me sends a clear message to City of go fuck yourself. Which is fine. But a bad long game to play by Brighton.

BTW, I firmly believe City would make it up to MC for leaving money on the table at Brighton in helping him get here.

Without seeing his contract, none of us knows for sure - but generally if a player is sold without formally asking to leave, they get paid the loyalty bonuses they’re due in their contract. Even if it’s a move they clearly wanted.

Handing in a Transfer Request forfeits those bonuses, so it does have a financial value to it - meaning a lower fee can be worth more to the selling club because they don’t hedge to pay out the bonuses in the players contract.

That’s why I believe a belligerent refusal to negotiate when the player has made that move will be damaging long term to the reputation Brighton are clearly trying to cultivate as a club that provides a platform for talent to thrive and get their big move.

Agents and players will see that as blocking a desired move, and will think twice about trusting Tony Bloom and taking their players to the Club.

 

[Mancini’s Pastilles]

Ah yes back to "filling in" Have we learnt nothing? We need a new recognised left back simple

Ake will also fill in at left-back

 

[The blue phantom]

The bit that confuses me in our dealings with this transfer is ever thinking in the first place that circa £30mil was going to do it for Brighton. I said weeks ago that if they had paid £5mil for him 12 months ago then maybe that’d have worked, but ffs they paid £15mil so it was always going to be in the 40’s before we got anywhere close.

If we weren’t prepared to go to that then we shouldn’t have targeted him in the first place.

Totally agree.

 

[hammocity]

Brighton are well within their rights to ask whatever they want for a player under contract. Clearly we want Cucurella so I think a compromise will be reached, probably about early 40’s plus add ons. Walker is 33 now so Cancelo may be needed as right back cover and as @DeBlueLou posted Laporte is out for a few weeks so Ake will have his part to play in Central Defence, I’m confident Txiki will get this over the line.

 

[ManCityGR!]

We already know very well what happened when we tried to improvise and play right or left back a player who does not know the place. We were limping!
As minor issue as it seems, it's not. Walker and Cancelo cannot get the whole season. Not even 60 % of it. We need a 3rd not to say a 4th also(2 right, 2 left) FULL back.

 

[joshr]

He already has. Macallister plays a deeper role like you mentioned, but Caicedo has already been the deepest midfielder when required (2nd half of the West Ham game for example).

No he isn’t caicedo hasn’t once played in defensive midfield he plays ahead of the dm in a more centre mid role . McAllister has played in bissoumas position for the pre season and has looked comfortable

 

[leo_city]

So they get to keep him another season and get the fee they want if he performs well, I don't blame them one bit for keeping hold of their best players.

That's a fair point, I'm looking at it from the player's perspective, he's probably gone their in good faith that if he performs he'll be allowed to leave, or just allowed to leave after a season or two. I also look at our own policy, if a player wants to leave and isn't happy, we simply let them go and get a replacement in. Brighton are not only tripling their money on Cucurella but can also get a replacement for 15-20m easily.

Keeping an unhappy player is always a risk, what if he is completely a shadow of his former self and does not have a good season?

 

[It'sBlue93:20]

Brighton are well within their rights to ask whatever they want for a player under contract. Clearly we want Cucurella so I think a compromise will be reached, probably about early 40’s plus add ons. Walker is 33 now so Cancelo may be needed as right back cover and as @DeBlueLou posted Laporte is out for a few weeks so Ake will have his part to play in Central Defence, I’m confident Txiki will get this over the line.

Walker is 32 , but yes I hope you are right

 

[celf]

Will he rock up in the starting 11 for them today?

Should know in 10 min.

 

[Gorton_Tubster]

Ah yes back to "filling in" Have we learnt nothing? We need a new recognised left back simple

Wow you're really emotionally invested in this aren't you.



Chill, we've dealt with much worse before.

 

[blueparrot]

Ah yes back to "filling in" Have we learnt nothing? We need a new recognised left back simple

We have learnt how to regulary win leagues so we have that..

 

[Kaki]

No he isn’t caicedo hasn’t once played in defensive midfield he plays ahead of the dm in a more centre mid role . McAllister has played in bissoumas position for the pre season and has looked comfortable

We're on a city forum talking about cucu so i'll keep this short.
You're chatting utter s****, if you watched the Estoril and Reading games you'd know Caicedo was deeper than Mac :D
Cucurella would be a far bigger loss than Bissouma since there's never been a system without him since he arrived, whereas there was already preparation for Bissouma's departure, simple as that.