Manchester City are ready to walk away from a deal for Marc Cucurella after Brighton refused to negotiate unless their £50m plus valuation was met.
Cucurella put in a transfer request and missed Saturday's friendly with Espanyol but City may now consider Stuttgart's Borna Sosa or Alex Grimaldo at Benfica.
City have offered around £35m and were willing to push to £40m but that is not good enough for the Seagulls and have given Cucurella time off in a bid to resolve the situation.
Marc Cucurella missed Brighton's pre-season clash at the weekend thanks to transfer talk
Manchester City are light in the left-back area having sold Oleksandr Zinchenko to Arsenal earlier this month and made the 26-year-old their number one target, given his impressive debut Premier League campaign.