In a piece of transfer news that pretty much came out of nowhere, Real Madrid have agreed a deal to sign Marc Cucurella from Chelsea. The Spanish defender is currently on international duty with Spain at the World Cup and is expected to join Jose Mourinho immediately after the tournament. The deal is reported to be a £47.4m fixed fee and a further £4.3m in add-ons. What has taken everyone by surprise is how the move materialized out of nowhere with little or no transfer links prior to the announcement.
Real Madrid moving in silence
Since announcing Jose Mourinho as their new manager, Real Madrid have been one of the most active sides in the transfer market, and they don’t seem to be letting up anytime soon. They have already completed deals for Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva and Inter Milan full-back Denzel Dumfries, while France defender Ibrahima Konaté is set to join after leaving Liverpool. The speed with which Cucurella was signed, though, is the one that has gotten everyone talking.
Having come through the ranks at Barcelona’s youth academy, the Spaniard was naturally linked with a return to Spain, but not with Barcelona and more recently Atletico Madrid. In an interview back in March, the 27-year-old even mentioned how it would be difficult to turn down a return to the Catalan giants but now has instead opted to join their fierce rivals.
There is also a school of thought that Real Madrid’s transfer plan so far has been to hijack any target of Barcelona. There is some merit to that claim, considering that all of their signings so far have indeed first been targeted by Barcelona. However it may be though, Cucurella is a great addition to any side for sure.
Chelsea will struggle to replace Cucurella
Chelsea will indeed struggle to replace a player of Cucurella’s quality. The defender had been a key player for the club following an initially tough start that followed his £62m move to Stamford Bridge.
The problem now for Chelsea is that in a transfer market that is rather inflated, Chelsea will barely find a player of Cucurella’s quality for the amount they received from Real Madrid. They will probably have to settle for someone with lesser quality and hope the player can improve and grow in his own mold rather than get a like-for-like quality replacement for the Spaniard.
No one knows the real reason Cucurella opted to leave the Blues, but it is worth noting that the 27-year-old openly criticized the club’s hierarchy for their over-dependence on youth in terms of their transfer strategy.
