Man City left-back plan C won't last forever as three stars benefit from Erling Haaland circus

These are your Manchester City evening headlines on Tuesday, July 26.

Three City stars benefit as Haaland takes centre stage

Pep Guardiola's first comment after City survived a lightning storm in Green Bay to record a second win in the USA was to brand their week-long tour a success, as they had picked up no injuries.

Inclement weather seems to follow City around when they venture abroad in pre-season, so it won't have come as too much of a surprise in Green Bay when a lightning storm caused more than an hour of delay to the Bayern Munich win. But this time there were no injury or pitch issues for Guardiola as the Blues head home in a better place than they flew out.

READ MORE: Three unlikely Man City stars show benefit of Erling Haaland circus on pre-season tour

That's a rare thing in the Catalan's time in charge, despite leaving four players behind and losing another mid-way through the tour. If the six days in Houston had showcased City's commercial and international pull, the stop-off in Green Bay was more a statement of their on-pitch progress ahead of the Community Shield clash with Liverpool next week.

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City can get away with left-back plan C for about one 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