Deal close: Big Man City transfer update emerges that’ll surely have Guardiola buzzing - opinion

Manchester City are reportedly close to securing a transfer to sign Brighton & Hove Albion full-back Marc Cucurella ahead of the upcoming summer window.

According to reports in Spain (via City Xtra), a deal that would see the Spaniard make a move to the Etihad Stadium could be confirmed as early as next week after it was revealed last month that the Manchester club were interested in signing the player.

After working his way through Barcelona’s youth ranks, the defender had spells with Eibar and Getafe before finally leaving Spain and joining Brighton back in the previous summer transfer window.

During his debut season with the Seagulls, the 23-year-old ended up playing more minutes in the league than any other outfield Brighton player.

This highlights just how important he quickly became for Graham Potter.

In those appearances, the left-back scored one goal, delivered one assist and earned himself an overall performance rating of 6.94/10 from WhoScored, making him the third-highest rated player in Potter’s squad.

To further highlight how impressive Cucurella was throughout the latest Premier League season, the full-back racked up the highest number of crosses (94), blocks (72) and combined number of tackles and interceptions (160) in Brighton’s ranks.

On that evidence, City would be securing a defensively solid player who is capable of dealing with the demanding nature of the top-flight.

But it’s arguably his attacking prowess where he really stands out with the defender ending the campaign with more shot-creating actions (78) under his belt than the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo (76), Emi Buendia (74) and Gabriel Martinelli (70) among many others.

Taking this into account along with the pedigree that the Brighton star has