Brighton and Hove Albion coach, Graham Potter says the club’s hands were tied when Chelsea came calling for Marc Cucurella.
Cucurella, 24, joined Chelsea within the space of 48 hours after Brighton had debunked reports of him leaving the club.
The Spaniard played an important role in Brigton’s campaign last season where they finished in the top part of the league table.
“We didn’t want to sell him [Cucurella], we didn’t need to sell him.” Potter said in a pre-game presser.
“But at the same time, as I’ve said before, if a Champions League club comes with Champions League resources and finances and the player indicates that there’s a desire to do it, it’s very difficult for us, then we have to make sure that we get the right fee, and we’re in a situation where everyone has won in terms of that the player has got a great opportunity, the selling club has got a good fee and the buying club has got a good player as well.”
Chelsea have reinforced their defence, bringing in Kalidou Koulibaly from Napoli after Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen left the Stamford Bridge side to join Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively.
Marcos Alonso is also in the news and is believed to be on the radar of Barcelona. His departure means Chelsea will be left with just Ben Chilwell in the left back position which makes the move for Cucurella quite necessary.
