Manchester City's transfer window looked to be going so well but now they've left themselves in a bit of a mess. With the signings of Erling Haaland, Kalvin Phillips and Stefan Ortega all completed early in the window - not to mention January signing Julian Alvarez's arrival - as well as Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling having their futures resolved quickly, City looked to have completed their summer business in record time.
This gave Pep Guardiola the squad refresh he desired. When Oleksandr Zinchenko was allowed to leave for Arsenal it looked like another piece of understandable business, with the Ukrainian looking for more guaranteed minutes and to play in his favoured midfield position.
City were confident of quickly getting in his replacement so everything looked rosy. ALSO READ: City cannot overlook one final transfer decision after signing a left-back However, that has gone awry as the Blues were unable to convince Brighton to lower their £50million asking price for Marc Cucurella.
While City stood their ground refusing to pay that much, Chelsea look to have swooped in and beat them to the punch. Reports on Wednesday evening claimed that the London club had agreed a £52.5million fee for the Spaniard.