Chelsea’s defender, Marc Cucurella, is facing the possibility of being expelled from the team due to his unsuccessful transfer attempt to Manchester United. The Evening Standard reports that Cucurella and Trevoh Chalobah might find themselves marginalized at Stamford Bridge.
During the summer transfer window, the 25-year-old’s proposed loan move to United fell through, leaving him in an unfavorable situation at Chelsea. Since his arrival at Chelsea in 2020, Ben Chilwell has consistently been the first-choice left-back. Even though he’s not currently occupying that role, manager Mauricio Pochettino has kept Cucurella on the bench.
This situation demonstrates the significant gap between Cucurella and Pochettino’s strategic preferences. Pochettino has opted to start Chilwell ahead of Cucurella and has even positioned Levi Colwill as the left-back in place of him.
As the season progresses, it appears increasingly unlikely that Marc Cucurella will see much playing time at Chelsea. If Pochettino continues to exclude him from the matchday squad, it would hardly come as a surprise.
Additionally, Pochettino has alternative options at left-back, including Ian Maatsen, Chilwell, and Colwill, which further diminishes Cucurella’s prospects of securing a place in the starting lineup.
Cucurella had a challenging previous season at Chelsea, which makes it clear that he was never guaranteed to be a regular starter in the current season. Jamie Carragher, commenting on one of Cucurella’s performances on Sky Sports last season, expressed his dissatisfaction, stating, “I wasn’t happy with Cucurella right throughout that second half until he came off.”
Given the circumstances, it appears that Cucurella might have benefited from a loan move to United or another team. Such a move could have provided him with the opportunity to regain his confidence in a new environment.
