‘I like it’ – Man City praised for transfer U-turn despite Pl rivals hijacking deal

Manchester City tried and failed to sign Marc Cucurella from Brighton & Hove Albion this summer and eventually had the door closed in their face after refusing to match his asking price. Gabriel Agbonlahor praised them for not meeting Brighton’s demands, however, as it’s a good stance not to pay over the odds for talent.

The Seagulls requested £50m for Cucurella, but City wouldn’t go above £40m so a deal failed to materialise. Chelsea have since hijacked the deal for the 24-year-old and are closing in on his signing, so City will have to turn their attentions elsewhere. Agbonlahor commended the decision though and says they can cope without signing another defender.

He told Football Insider: “I like it. We all know about Man City having so many billions and being able to buy who they want, but Pep has probably said ‘I like him, I want him, but this is the amount I’m paying because I’ve got (Joao) Cancelo and (Nathan) Ake who can fill in there. I’d rather play them than pay over the odds’.

“I like the way Man City have set an amount they’ll pay and not go over it. If Pep wanted it they’d pay £50million, but he probably feels that you can get judged on transfers and it’s a lot of money who had a decent season at Brighton but is not amazing, to be honest.”

Oleksandr Zinchenko being sold to Arsenal now means the Premier League champions are without a natural left-back ahead of the new season, forcing Guardiola to continue with Joao Cancelo in the makeshift role. And even though the 26-year-old struggled at left-back in the Community Shield final, he still has the backing of Pep.

Josh Wilson-Esbrand is waiting in the wings for a first-team opportunity too.

In other news, Man City criticised for ‘lingering issue’ that Pep Guardiola failed to resolve last season