Graham Potter has already given his Marc Cucurella transfer verdict as Manchester City set to increase £30m offer

Albion head coach Graham Potter believes the club will only sell their star players when it is the right time to do so.

Manchester City have ramped up their pursuit of Albion’s player of year Cucurella after Pep Guardiola’s champions allowed Oleksandr Zinchenko to move to Arsenal for £30m yesterday.

It means City are short of a left-sided player and Cucurella – who progressed through the youth ranks at Barcelona – is Guardiola’s No 1 target.

The 23-year-old impressed down the left flank for Albion on his debut season in the Premier League, having joined late in last summer’s window for £15.4m from Getafe.

Potter has already lost Yves Bissouma this summer as his star midfielder exited in a £30m deal to Tottenham.

The Albion boss will not want to lose another key man so soon but accepts Brighton’s position in football’s hierarchy.

“The narrative in the media is you need to keep hold of your players and I understand why that is, because that’s just sensible,” Potter said at the end of last season.

“But there is a hierarchy in football and a reality of finances in football, so we can’t sit here and say, ‘yep, we’re going to keep all of our players between now and five years’ time’, because clearly that puts a huge strain on the economic position of the club.

“It’s important for us to keep moving that forward, that’s a way we compete, I think. Selling Ben [White] for £50million and getting better is how we can compete in the system.

“It’s about selling the right player at the right time for the right price and I think we’re quite good at that, or we have been recently.

“I’ve absolute confidence in the club in terms of finding the right solution to go forward.”

Cucurella is contracted with Brighton until June 2026 and the club are under no pressure to sell.

Sussex World understands City would have to get close to £50m before allowing their Spaniard to leave.