Brighton have ended discussions with Manchester City over left-back Marc Cucurella, according to The Athletic’s Andy Naylor.

The Lowdown: City’s pursuit of Cucurella

After selling Oleksandr Zinchenko to Arsenal earlier this month, the Premier League champions have been on the lookout for a replacement at left-back ever since.

With Pep Guardiola having identified the Spain international as his desired player, the Sky Blues set about entering negotiations with Brighton. The Citizens had their opening £30m bid rejected by the south coast club, with the Seagulls demanding a staggering £50m fee.

Cucurella himself even handed in a transfer request on Friday to push through a move to the Etihad Stadium.

The Latest: Brighton end discussions

Naylor has shared the latest update on City’s pursuit of the Brighton full-back.

Taking to Twitter in sharing a link to a corresponding article from The Athletic, the reliable journalist claimed: “Brighton have ended discussions with Manchester City over Marc Cucurella. They won't engage in incremental bid increases.

“The asking price remains £50m+. They consider the Spaniard to be a rarer and better player than Ben White.”

The Verdict: City missing out…

When looking at the 24-year-old’s underlying statistics, it is clear to see why Guardiola wants to bring his felloe Spaniard to the Etihad this summer.

As per FBRef, compared with positional peers across Europe's top five leagues over the past year, Cucurella ranks in the 89th percentile for passes attempted, the 87th percentile for progressive passes and the 80th percentile for shot-creating actions.

With Joao Cancelo technically being a right-back who can play on the left, this leaves the City manager without no out-and-out left-back to call upon currently.

Therefore, Cucurella to the Sky Blues seemed like a great match for the two parties, so Brighton putting an end to discussions will come as a big blow for City.