London (AFP) – Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has said the Blues are in the closing stages of finalising Marc Cucurella’s reported £60 million ($73 million) transfer from Brighton.
The Spain wing-back is now on the verge of becoming Chelsea’s latest pre-season signing with Kalidou Koulibaly, Raheem Sterling and Carney Chukwuemeka all having arrived at Stamford Bridge.
Should Cucurella’s deal go through, young Chelsea centre-back Levi Colwill could head in the opposite direction, on loan, to Brighton.
Both Manchester City and Chelsea have been interested in Cucurella, although the Premier League champions are understood to have baulked at Brighton’s asking price.
But Chelsea, under new owner Todd Boehly’s consortium, have remained interested with Tuchel, speaking Friday on the eve of the London club’s season opener away to Everton, saying: “Well it’s not done yet, but I don’t want to tell you that I don’t know anything about it of course.
“The paperwork is in process, hopefully we can get it done before noon and that Marc is our player; young, hungry, mobile and a very intelligent player.
“If it goes through it opens some options for maybe Colwill to find some more game time elsewhere.”
