Brighton chairman Tony Bloom provides telling summer transfer update and admits 'realistic' Manchester City concern

The 23-year-old Spaniard has been the subject of intense transfer speculation with Chelsea and Manchester City keen on the £50 million rated left-sided player.

Cucurella joined Albion late in last summer's transfer window in a £15.4m deal from La Liga outfit Getafe.

The former Barcelona youth man added a fresh dimension to Graham Potter's team and helped Albion to ninth place finish in the top flight.

Cucurella is contracted with Brighton until June 2026 and Bloom is in no rush to sell.

"Marc is a tremendous player, a tremendous person," said the chairman and owner.

"He's brilliant for the dressing room, the players love him. Graham [Potter] and the coaches love him. I love him, the fans love him.

"He was unbelievably good last season. We're hoping for more to come, and we haven't had a bid for him.

“The fact that there is speculation and there is interest in our players, I always view that as a positive.

"It hasn’t always been like that. There’s less than three or four clubs where some of the players are not for sale.

“We’ve got to be realistic if a certain bid comes in and the player wants to move, the player will move, but we are not anticipating, we’re not looking for our best players to move on.

"If it happens and we get a bid then we have to consider it, but until that point, we carry on.”