Brighton & Hove Albion have debunked the reports of Chelsea reaching an agreement regarding the signing of full-back Marc Cucurella.
Various reports suggested on Wednesday that the west Londoners had struck a deal with Seagulls for the Spaniard after tabling an offer in the region of £50 million – even Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano nodded his famous “Here we go!”
However, Brighton have deemed those reports inaccurate, insisting that nothing has been agreed between Cucurella and any club.
The Seagulls’ statement read: “Contrary to inaccurate reports from numerous media outlets this evening, no agreement has been reached with any club to sell Marc Cucurella.”
It remains to be seen how this impacts Manchester City, who had been leading the race for Cucurella until a few days ago.
City were the first club to pursue Cucurella, but their reluctance to meet Brighton’s valuation allowed Chelsea to move ahead in the race.
IBarcelona, who hijacked Blues’ targets Raphinha and Jules Kounde, also enquired about bringing Cucurella back to Camp Nou.
However, Barca’s current attention seems to be towards cheaper alternatives such as Javi Galan, Caio Henrique and Jose Gaya, who can provide cover for first-choice left-back Jordi Alba.
City are looking at alternatives as they are in dire need of a left-back after losing Oleksandr Zinchenko to Arsenal. Sergio Gomez and Alex Grimaldo are on the wishlist.
Chelsea have already added Raheem Sterling, Kalidou Koulibaly and Gabriel Slonina to their ranks in the summer. There is also an agreement in principle for Aston Villa youngster Carney Chukwuemeka.
They have also identified Frenkie de Jong and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as potential targets.
