Chelsea pick Marc Cucurella replacement - and he’s an upgrade

Analysis

Robin Bairner | Chief Editor

Accredited football journalist and editor covering the game since 2006

Chelsea are preparing to sell Marc Cucurella and have set Juventus’ Andrea Cambiaso in their sights as the Spaniard’s replacement. The Italian promises to be an upgrade on the Stamford Bridge favourite.

Cucurella has decided that he will leave Stamford Bridge in the summer, despite having held talks with manager Xabi Alonso that were designed to persuade him to remain in West London.

The 27-year-old has been critical of the direction of travel that the Blues have been in under owners BlueCo, and amidst interest from Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid, he has decided that he wants to return to his homeland.

Chelsea to replace Cucurella with Cambiaso

Chelsea are bracing themselves for Cucurella’s departure and are tracking Juventus’ Cambiaso as a replacement for the former Brighton star, according to Gazzetta dello Sport.

Cambiaso is no stranger to interest from the Premier League. The left wing-back has spent much of the last 18 months being linked with a move to Manchester City.

Juventus had managed to fend off these overtures, yet the Turin giants are not in a strong position to do so again with the Blues after they failed to qualify for the Champions League.

Juve boss Luciano Spalletti has praised Cambiaso’s intelligent and persistent movement, which creates space across the field. However, he has also been blamed for technical errors and poor judgement, which makes him a more sellable asset for the Bianconeri.

Nevertheless, he will not go cheaply. A transfer in the region of €40-50 million is discussed by Italian sources.

Cambiaso vs Cucurella: Chelsea are poised to upgrade

Chelsea could be the big winners from this situation, according to SciSports.

The data analytics experts indicate that Cambiaso would arrive at Stamford Bridge and would immediately become a key member of Alonso’s squad.

Indeed, he offers a more obvious fit into the left wing-back role that the Spaniard is likely to employ. Cambiaso, who at 26 is a year younger than Cucurella, offers more obvious attacking qualities, particularly in terms of his crossing and dribbling.

SciSports, meanwhile, indicates that he is simply a stronger player than Cucurella. He has a greater SciSkill than the current Chelsea star, with this figure calculated based on hundreds of in-game data points.

The caveat to this is that Cucurella has been in the midst of a dramatic slump in recent months and has a higher peak score than the Italy international. If he were to regain his best level of 106.6, he would be marginally the stronger player.

Time for Cucurella to go?

Chelsea have yet to make any solid progress in the transfer market under Alonso, with plenty of rumours but little substance thus far.

The Blues are unlikely to move for Cambiaso until the situation with Cucurella is resolved, yet it may now be in the best interests of everyone involved that the Spain international heads back to La Liga.