Manchester City may find it hard to prise Marc Cucurella away from Brighton, according to BBC journalist Simon Stone.

There have been reports that talks over a transfer are well advanced, with the left-back having already agreed personal terms with the Premier League champions, but Stone claims that the Seagulls are “keen to keep” the player:

Brighton keen to keep Cucurella https://t.co/BdhgXhfWsS via @BBCSport

— Simon Stone (@sistoney67) June 27, 2022

It is believed that Brighton would need to receive a very big offer to tempt them into selling Cucurella. They are not under any pressure to sell the Spanish international after already offloading Yves Bissouma to Tottenham this summer.

Some reports have suggested that £40m could be enough for City to secure the defender’s services but Stone’s remarks do suggest that Graham Potter’s side will make negotiations pretty difficult.

After the ease with which City managed to secure an agreement with Leeds for Kalvin Phillips, there was some hope that a deal could be wrapped up pretty quickly for Cucurella as well, but that may well be wishful thinking. Chelsea and Tottenham have also been credited with an interest in the 23-year-old so we shall see how this transfer saga unfolds.