Manchester City will step up their pursuit of an impressive Premier League player with their impending sale of Raheem Sterling the catalyst to spark their progress, according to a source.
Sterling, 27, is set to join Chelsea in the coming days. The Blues have agreed a deal with Man City worth an initial £45m. The final cost of the move could reach £50m pending add-ons.
The England winger will also reportedly receive a pay rise from the move. He is set to become Chelsea’s highest-paid player, surpassing N’Golo Kante’s reported £290,000-a-week wages.
City have already splashed out well over £100m on Erling Haaland, Calvin Phillips and Julian Alvarez this summer. Goalkeeper Stefan Ortega arrived from Arminia Bielefeld as a free agent.
However, the Cityzens have already recouped £45m from the sale of Gabriel Jesus to Arsenal.
Combined with the sterling money coming in and the departures of Gavin Bazunu (£12m), Romeo Lavia (£10.5m), Pedro Porro (£7.2m), Darko Gyabi (£5m) and Ko Itakura (£ 4.3 million), City will have actually realized a net profit on sales.
This will give them license to make another splash. According to the Italian journalist Rudi Galetti, this is exactly what is coming.
He tweeted that once Sterling completes his move to Chelsea, City will focus on finalizing a deal to sign Mark Cucurella from Brighton.
Transfer talks ‘progressing well’
The 23-year-old Spanish left-back enjoyed a fantastic debut campaign in England last season. His impeccable efforts saw him win the Brighton Player of the Season and Players’ Player of the Season awards.
They also saw him attract the attention of Man City, who only have three recognized full-backs in their ranks (Kyle Walker, Joao Cancelo and Alexander Zinchenko).
Fabrizio Romano previously confirmed that Cucurella is in Man City’s sights. Galetti now says talks over a move to the Etihad are “progressing well”.
Indeed, City are keen to speed up negotiations once Sterling has gone and complete the deal as quickly as possible.
Although the journalist did not quote a transfer fee, Romano previously claimed that Brighton could receive up to £50m.
Cukurella will complete the Man City squad
Very few areas of Guardiola’s squad can be called deficient. However, it cannot be argued that City do not have enough depth at full-back.
Kyle Walker remains an elite performer, although at 32, he will start to struggle to feature two to three times a week, as City’s schedule often demands.
Cancelo is the main left-back, although he is right-footed. However, he also doubles as Walker’s main backup option on the right.
Nathan Ake can cover at left-back when needed, although the Dutchman has been linked with Chelsea.
As such, adding Cucurella to the mix would give Guardiola breathing room at full-back. And if his first season at the AMEX was anything to go by, he will have no trouble stepping up in class at City.
The only other positions under scrutiny at City were centre-forward and holding midfielder when it became clear that Fernandinho would be leaving.
However, the arrival of Haaland and Philips firmly put these entities to bed.
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