Chelsea have reportedly beaten Manchester City to the signing of Brighton left-back Marc Cucurella with the talks between the two clubs well advanced.
The Premier League champions were interested in the Spanish left-back after selling Oleksander Zinchenko to Arsenal but balked at the 50 million pounds asking price.
Despite the Spaniard handing in a transfer request to his club, City and Brighton could not come to a mutual agreement.
It was this impasse between the two clubs that allowed Chelsea to steal a march on the transfer for the defender with the Blues willing to meet the transfer fee set by Brighton.
The Londoners have been in need of defensive reinforcements long before the summer but their position was exacerbated by the departures of Antonio Rudiger to Real Madrid and Andreas Christensen to Barcelona with the Spanish club later also stealing Sevilla’s Jules Kounde from under their noses.
Talks between Chelsea and Brighton accelerated in the last 24 hours, with the Blues willing to include promising young center-back Levi Colwill in the deal for Marc Cucurella.
Thomas Tuchel is said to be a fan of Cucurella’s versatility with the Spaniard likely to play on the left side of the back-three as Chelsea already has Ben Chilwell on its roster.
Personal terms between the player and the club are yet to be discussed but appear to be a formality with Cucurella looking to move to a bigger club.
Chelsea have already signed Kalidou Koulibaly and are eyeing Leicester’s Wesley Fofana after completing the Cururella deal.
