From the outside looking in (thanks for having us BHA fans here by the way) there's still one thing I don't understand about this whole saga.
Having read much of this thread, a few things seem clear. You need a new LB/LWB, ideally a left footer, Cancelo very good in that position but can struggle defensively in the big games, you're a very well run club, great scouting, you don't need nor want to take risks in signings, Cucu has been your priority, Pep wants him, you've made profits on player sales this summer, and you don't value him much more than £30-40m. None of which I have reason to dispute.
The question then is WHY was Cucu your first choice? You're Man City, the best team in the country, one of the best in the world, with major ambition to win the Champions League. You have a squad full of players worth in excess of £50m. So why was your top target for the critical LB position, where you have a clear need, and selected by your scouting dept and manager, just a player worth no more than 30-40m? You'd be picking sides with global superstars 1 to 11, except for the average floppy haired guy on the left.
I find that hard to reconcile. It's not a dig, just doesn't quite add up.
We’ve signed loads of under the radar young players. In fact, that’s pretty much what we always try to do.
David Silva and Kun Agüero were just early-20s lads with potential from non-top clubs, I’d never really seen or heard of Rodri Cancelo or Dias before signing them, Fernandinho was a chancey one as he’d only played in Ukraine, Jesus was just a young lad from Brazil, Alvarez is just a young lads from Argentina, Laporte had only played for a midtable La Liga team, Walker had only played for Spurs, Stones for Everton, Sterling was just a young lad and Liverpool had finished 7th when we signed him, Sané was just a young kid from midtable Shalke, Džeko was a bit of an unknown from Wolfsburg, Grealish had played more games in the Championship than the Premier League when we signed him, Bernardo was a bit of an unknown… you can go on and on, and we have pretty much always signed players at Cucurella’s level and they’ve only become superstars while at City.
At a push you’d say players who were big-ish names before we signed them were:
Tevez had played in United’s best ever team winning the league and CL, but he wasn’t their superstar.
Yaya was a big name as he’d been a starting midfielder for the best team of all-time, but he wasn’t the superstar of that team.
de Bruyne was German POTS, but only played for Wolfsburg and he’d had a short spell in the Prem before where Chelsea didn’t fancy him.
Gundogan was a starter at Dortmund when they’d won two German league titles and got to the CL final, but we only paid £20m for him
Mahrez had won the Prem POTS previously but again only for Leicester in a freak season.
And we’ve just bought Haaland who could potentially become a superstar but he isn’t one yet.
Other than that, all our signings have been non-superstars who’ve come from non-top clubs.