Pep Guardiola has numerous players targeted on his list for the coming summer and given his fondness for youngsters, we surely expect some unknown bunch of them making a move to Etihad soon.
Manchester City are expected to undergo numerous changes as the season ends with the first season of the new manager turning out to be fruitless to a large extent.
And with the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager finding it difficult to superimpose his free-flowing tactics on the existent players, a lot of names are likely to move out soon.
One of the prime areas of improvement would be City’s defence. With the midfield and the attack already undergoing some high-profile additions last summer, the back line remains a largely untouched area by the manager.
And according to latest reports, the Barcelona legend has identified a La Masia product already to bring in his grand scheme of things.
18-year-old Marc Cucurella has attracted Guardiola with his exceptional displays on the left defensive flank of late and the Manchester outfit is expected to make a move for the Alella born full-back. Although it won’t be easy for them to land him as direct rivals Chelsea also have their sights set on him.
Cucurella has been a regular in the UEFA Youth League this season where he has appeared 12 times and scored once. In Spain’s Segunda Division B- Group III, he has played seven times netting 3 goals.
An academy product of Espanyol, Barcelona bought him back in 2012 and he has established himself as a star prospect with them.
His impressive displays have had the national team calling and he made his Spain Under -19 debut in November 2016. He has since then played four matches for them.
Of course, one would argue that an 18-year-old could never be a quick replacement of Premier League veterans like Gael Clichy and Aleksandar Kolarov, but Guardiola has found it hard to instil his philosophy among the shaped footballing minds and a young inexperienced player can execute them to perfection.
Barcelona have been home to some of the most thrilling youngsters who have made a big mark, like Giovanni dos Santos, Bojan Krkic, Pedro and likewise. And City might be looking at a similar potential in Cucurella.
The player will bring with him some serious pace and sublime technique that is so Barcelona like and Guardiola plans to replicate the mammoth success that he had with Catalan’s batch of 2011.
