Report: Chelsea set to finalize £52.5M signing of Brighton's Cucurella
Marc Cucurella will undergo a medical at Chelsea on Thursday ahead of signing a six-year contract with the London club, according to The Guardian's Fabrizio Romano.
The Blues will reportedly pay £52.5 million to buy the left-back from Brighton & Hove Albion. Chelsea met Brighton's hefty asking price for the Spaniard after Manchester City were apparently unwilling to improve their £40-million offer.
Despite numerous reports corroborating Romano's claim that a deal is close - including a story from BBC Sport's Alistair Magowan - Brighton tweeted a brief club statement to deny any agreement had been reached.
CLUB STATEMENT: MARC CUCURELLA.
— Brighton & Hove Albion (@OfficialBHAFC) August 3, 2022
Contrary to inaccurate reports from numerous media outlets this evening, no agreement has been reached with any club to sell Marc Cucurella.
Cucurella, 24, won both the fans' and players' versions of the Seagulls' Player of the Season award off the back of his energetic displays down the left for Brighton. He only moved to the south-coast side from Getafe for around £15.5 million last summer.
At Chelsea, he'd compete with Ben Chilwell - who missed much of the 2021-22 season with a ruptured cruciate ligament and other fitness issues - for minutes in Thomas Tuchel's lineup. His arrival could also hasten the departures of Marcos Alonso and Emerson Palmieri from Stamford Bridge.
Cucurella is also comfortable playing to the left of a defensive trio.
Nineteen-year-old Chelsea defender Levi Colwill is on the verge of joining Brighton on loan in a separate deal. Colwill has been linked with a move to Leicester City this summer.