Man City could abandon Cucurella plans and look elsewhere

Manchester City could abandon their pursuit of Brighton and Hove Albion’s Marc Cucurella and instead look to two European stars, according to reports.

As per The Daily Mail, the Premier League champions could opt to end their efforts to land Cucurella, and instead move for either Benfica’s Alex Grimaldo or Stuttgart’s Borno Sosa.

The report claims that the Seagulls are standing firm on their £50 million asking price for Cucurella, and that could prompt City to defer their interest until next summer.

City have already had a £30 million offer for the Spaniard rejected, but they could now look elsewhere.

Grimaldo is one of the players being monitored by City

Grimaldo has been linked with English clubs including Chelsea in the past, but he could now be the focus of City’s interest.

The 26-year-old has provided 50 assists in 2246 games for the club since joining in 2016.

Sosa, meanwhile, made 30 appearances for Stuttgart last term.

City are in desperate need of reinforcements at left-back after the departure of Oleksandr Zinchenko, which left Joao Cancelo as Pep Guardiola’s only option in the role.

The Portuguese is naturally a right-back, but has been used on the left in the absence of a natural full-back on that side.