Chelsea Transfer News: Updates on Cucurella, Fofana, Dumfries and Gvardiol

Marc Cucurella to Chelsea gathers pace

Chelsea have stepped up talks for 24-year-old Brighton fullback Marc Cucurella and the deal has been picking up steam in the past few hours.

Cucurella was a key transfer target for Manchester City this transfer window but Brighton recently ended talks with City over latters’ reluctance to raise their bid over £40million while Brighton value the player at over £50million.

Chelsea appear to have swooped in and are due to have talks with Brighton as well as Cucurella in the next few hours. The London club appear to be willing to meet Brighton’s demands but would discuss including other players into the bid like highly-rated young centre-back Levi Colwill.

It’s been reported that Cucurella placed a transfer request at Brighton a few days ago and is also open to the prospect of a move to Stamford Bridge. A move for a value of £50million is on the cards.

Marc Cucurella is a technically strong, robust defender who’s excelled as a left back and left wing-back previously but he added another feather to his cap by performing extremely well as left-sided centre-back in a 3-man-defence for Brighton last season where his unique role involved him bombing on and overlapping the wing-back on his side from his left centre-back position.

The fact that Chelsea play a 3-man defence and also would need to add quality cover for Ben Chilwell amidst strong Barcelona interest for Marcos Alonso means that this is a shrewd move for both club and player.

Talks are progressing quickly. One to keep an eye on over the coming days.