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Chelsea superstar takes aim at owners in brutal interview
Cameron Smith
- 31 Mar 2026 03:30 CDT
- 5 min read
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Chelsea superstar Marc Cucurella has taken aim at the club’s hierarchy for their current transfer model.
The Spain international has hinted that he would be tempted to return to Barcelona if he receives an offer this summer and he has now revealed that he isn’t a fan of Chelsea’s transfer policy of almost exclusively signing young players.
Cucurella, 27, is one of the Blues’ most experienced stars and he believes the club’s lack of seniority is a key reason behind their recent 8-2 aggregate defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League last-16.
Speaking to The Athletic while on international duty with Spain, the Chelsea defender admitted: “We lacked experience. For a lot of players, it was the first time playing a match of that calibre, and we paid the price.
“You can always make a mistake, but we should have handled it better. There was a return game to play, and if you keep a cool head, you go back to London with a 3-2 defeat and anything can happen. We made a mistake, tried to attack without a clear structure and then PSG took the chance and proved they have that cutting edge.”
Cucurella continued: “Results like that are always hard to take. You are fighting and training every day only to realise, at the very end, that when games matter, we are still a bit away from the top level.
“I understand this is part of the club’s policy, and that they want to take this direction - signing young players and looking to the future. But, for all of us who are still here and want to win big things, moments like this make you feel discouraged.
“We have a good core of players. The foundations are there. But to fight for major trophies such as the Premier League or the Champions League, you need more. Signing young players only might complicate achieving those goals. Against PSG, we lacked players that had gone through situations like that.
“You need time as well, and I know the young players are the ones that will have the experience in the future. But you need to find the balance between both worlds.”
Chelsea have shown little evidence of listening to Cucurella’s advice and they are once again expected to prioritise signing talented youngsters this summer, with deals already agreed for Geovany Quenda, Emmanuel Emegha, Dastan Satpaev and Denner.
The club have also been tipped to sign Strasbourg midfielder Valentin Barco following significant rumours that Enzo Fernandez will leave Stamford Bridge after growing frustrated by their lack of progress.
‘Chelsea shouldn’t have sacked Maresca’ - Cucurella
Meanwhile, Cucurella has also criticised Chelsea’s owners for their decision to part ways with former boss Enzo Maresca on New Year’s Day.
The Italian left by mutual consent amid a rift with the Chelsea board, but Cucurella believes the club should’ve retained faith in the 46-year-old.
“We knew what Maresca wanted from us,” Cucurella admitted. “Winning a title like the Club World Cup also helps, strengthens the bond, and you create great relationships during the celebrations. When a manager gives you that confidence and offers you a platform to fight for titles, you’d die for him.
“The moment Maresca left, it had a big impact on us. These are decisions taken by the club. If you asked me, I would not have made this decision. To make a change like that, the best thing is to wait until the end of the season. You would give everyone, the players and the new manager, time to get ready, have a full pre-season…
“The instability around the club comes from this, in a nutshell. We had a caretaker [Calum McFarlane] first, then a new manager, with new ideas and no time to work on them. It is what it is.”
He added: “Liam [Rosenior] is a very good person and has been great at handling the group, the characters. He likes to stay close to us and his football ideas are good, but we don’t have the time to train them.
“We train on competitive games, because we play every three days and that leaves you with no time to work on the training ground. In this context, it is normal that your plans sometimes don’t work out, and then we go through difficult moments.
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Marc Cucurella
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Marc Cucurella
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“With Enzo Maresca in charge, we were more stable, because we worked together for 18 months. If you look at our first pre-season with him, there were doubts. You need a process for every player to understand what we need to do. In our last months with Maresca, we played almost by heart. If we changed the system, we knew what we had to do. You need that time.
“Look at Arsenal now, who are fighting for every trophy. They’ve been with [Mikel] Arteta for almost seven years and they have not won much. But that trust in the project gives rewards.”
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