New Left-Back Options Emerge For Manchester City Amid Marc Cucurella Impasse

As a deal for Brighton’s Marc Cucurella looks less likely by the day, Manchester City could be forced to look for alternative left-back signings before the summer window shuts. 

Left-back has been a position of constant change for Pep Guardiola’s side.

Since the Catalan manager joined the club in 2016 only one natural left sided wide man has been signed.

As a result, a rotating cast of players have left their natural positions to fill the void. Fabian Delph, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Aymeric Laporte, Nathan Ake, and Joao Cancelo have all featured heavily on the left-flank, despite being signed to the club in other positions.

This summer Manchester City have been heavily linked with Brighton and Hove Albion left-back Marc Cucurella, who impressed in his first season on the South Coast. 

With his vocal desire to play for Pep Guardiola at the Etihad, and City’s need for a natural left-back, it appeared to be a match made in heaven.

But with the two clubs failing to see eye-to-eye on the player’s valuation in recent weeks, the deal appears to have stalled. 

The Sky Blues' decision not to pursue the 24 year-old left-back has provided a window of opportunity to Chelsea, with the London club widely claimed to be willing the £50 million price tag set by the Seagulls.

Now City could be forced into moving on to alternative options, as Fabrizio Romano reports that the Premier League Champions have been offered 'many' left-backs in the last weeks. 

According to Romano, Benfica’s Álex Grimaldo has been offered to the Etihad club, as well as Borussia Dortmund’s Raphaël Guerreiro.

Borna Sosa of VfB Stuttgart has also been proposed, reports Romano.

The Etihad hierarchy have shown a propensity to look at other players when they feel they can’t meet the valuation of their main targets.

However, left-back has been a peculiar story for the club in recent years. 

It has been widely reported that Pep Guardiola and the club’s decision makers have been keen on a variety of left-sided defenders in recent years but never pulled the trigger, and instead decided to stick with options already at the club. 

However, with the departure of Oleksandr Zinchenko to Premier League rivals Arsenal, Guardiola could be facing the early weeks of the new season with only two senior full-backs in the squad, Kyle Walker and Joao Cancelo. 

For a team with ambitions to compete on multiple fronts, surely fresh legs will be needed on the flank, however it is unclear who may come in to fill that role.