Marc Cucurella

I am really Excited about this potential signing. Fullbacks are an important asset of any Guardiola setup. In his spell at the club there hasn't been a stand out fullback unlike at Barca where he had Dani Alves or Bayern where he had Lahm & Alaba, 2 of the most intelligent and tactically screwed on fullbacks you will ever see in the game, never mind this generation.

We spent a lot of money on Walker and Mendy to replace Sagna, Zabaletta, Clichy. Hasn't worked out with Mendy and never the same player after his injury. Walker is probably the best player improved by Pep in my opinion, up there with Fern but he is still an orthodox fullback and is used more as an insurance net defensively than as an attacking cog.

Now I know we have Cancelo but there is still so much to his game that has to improve particularly his defensive game although he has done well on the left. I dont like him on the right defensively. Makes us so much weaker but I think his long term position could be on the right if we land Cucurella.

Coming to Cucurella, every time I have watched him the balance in his attacking and defensive game is very good. Helps he mostly plays in a back 3 but another thing is his engine. Given how good his in the final third, having a fullback who is switched on in both halves on the left will move us several gears.

I am a big fan of Zinny but defensively against average to above average teams he is a serious liability.

I hope we keep him. With the 5 sub rule he will get a lot of game time. The quoted fee for Cucurella is steep but I do think he is worth the quoted 45 million fee.