Man City can get away with their left-back Plan C for about a month

Manchester City want to sign a left-back in the summer transfer window and expect to sign one. If they don't, having allowed Oleksandr Zinchenko to join Arsenal, it will be a rare but significant blip in an otherwise productive summer

Plan A is to sign Marc Cucurella from Brighton, the 24-year-old educated at La Masia that seems an ideal fit for the football Pep Guardiola plays. However, there remains a big difference between what City say they are willing to pay for him and what Brighton say they are willing to accept.

If that gap proves unable to be bridged, there have already been noises from the Etihad that they will turn their attentions elsewhere. Stuttgart defender Borna Sosa is one other name on the shortlist. City pulled something similar two years ago when Kaldiou Koulibaly was chased for the majority of the summer before they signed Ruben Dias instead.

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Plan C is to sign nobody and do as Guardiola said last week: start Joao Cancelo, have cover with Aymeric Laporte and Nathan Ake, and then use the promising Josh Wilson-Esbrand if needed. For all the shortage of specialists, Cancelo is one of the best full-backs in the world and has one of the best fitness levels of any player in the league.

Despite the obvious plus in Cancelo, this option would not be sustainable over the season. Injuries can strike at any time, City are hardly overflowing with centre-backs to be able to play one on the left, while including Wilson-Esbrand as a major option would be a departure from Guardiola's thinking for his entire six years at the club - Phil Foden had won two Premier League titles before he was trusted as an established member of the senior squad.

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