Manchester City are expected to “speed” up their plans to sign Brighton defender Marc Cucurella, according to Rudy Galetti.

The Italian journalist claims that now Raheem Sterling‘s move to Chelsea has been finalised, it will allow Pep Guardiola’s side to focus their efforts on negotiating a deal for Cucurella:

🚨🔥 After #Sterling‘s move to #Chelsea, #ManCity are now focused on finalizing the deal for #Cucurella.

✅ The talks with #Brighton – as reported – are progressing well: now #MCFC want to speed the things up to close soon. 🐓⚽ #Transfers #Calciomercato https://t.co/Of0aGiNloE

— Rudy Galetti (@RudyGaletti) July 7, 2022

Cucurella will undoubtedly be very enthusiastic about swapping the Amex for the Etihad Stadium but talks with Brighton are likely to be difficult. The Seagulls are under no pressure to sell the Spanish international and some reports have suggested they may hold out for as much as £50m.

The Premier League champions will, of course, be seeking to get an agreement on a fee for substantially below that amount but there are no guarantees that will happen. Things are unlikely to be as smooth as they were with Leeds when City got a deal agreed for Kalvin Phillips relatively quickly.

Chelsea and Tottenham have also been credited with an interest in Cucurella but it appears that the Citizens are the favourites for his signature.