Man City ‘follow’ Alejandro Grimaldo

Manchester City could turn to Benfica left-back Alejandro ‘Alex’ Grimaldo after backing away from their pursuit of Marc Cucurella, according to Spanish outlet Marca.

The lowdown: City’s conundrum

The Sky Blues have been actively pursuing a deal for 24-year-old Brighton and Hove Albion defender Cucurella this summer, seeing a £30million offer rejected out of hand by the south coast club.

Having allowed Oleksandr Zinchenko to leave for Arsenal, Pep Guardiola is seeking reinforcements for the Premier League champions at left-back to avoid being left with only Joao Cancelo as a senior option for the position.

Despite installing Cucurella as their top target, a fresh report from The Athletic has suggested that City could be about to walk away from the transfer amidst demands of £50million and claims emerging from Spain have once again highlighted a potential alternative…

The latest: Marca provides Grimaldo update

As per Marca, Manchester City are understood to ‘follow’ 26-year-old Grimaldo in the current window.

However, it’s claimed that ‘there are more suitors’ for the twice-capped Spain Under 21 star, with Newcastle, Barcelona and Juventus all keen on the former Valencia youth prospect.

The report also states that Benfica would expect offers of around €20million (£16.7million) for the marauding full-back – who was described as being ‘good enough to play for any side’ by sporting director Tiago Pinto last year.

The verdict: Move on

Ultimately whilst Cucurella would clearly be the preference of Guardiola, City have remained reluctant to pay what they perceive as over the odds for any target and should stick to their principles on this occasion also.

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By way of comparison, last season, Grimaldo scored five times and provided five assists in the Portuguese Primeira Liga whilst earning a 7.28 rating. Meanwhile, Cucurella directly contributed to just two goals and ended the Premier League campaign with a 6.94 rating (WhoScored).

Both attack-minded operators, stylistically there is little to split the two and therefore paying the lower fee to land the second option wouldn’t be an issue when it comes to slotting into Guardiola’s plans.

Another product of the famous La Masia academy in Catalonia, Grimaldo’s impressive crossing, passing and key passing attributes would make the Spaniard a smart addition to the Etihad ranks and should be acted upon immediately should the Cucurella pursuit be unable to be thrashed out.