Marc Cucurella has become the latest senior Chelsea player to question the club’s project, saying the sacking of Enzo Maresca created “instability” at Stamford Bridge.
Cucurella, who at 27 is one of the most experienced players in Chelsea’s young squad, has said he was “discouraged” by their Champions League thrashing by Paris St-Germain as he warned that signing only young players would not help the team to win major titles.
It is the latest example of an important player speaking out against Chelsea’s decision-makers, after star midfielder Enzo Fernandez said Maresca’s departure “hurt us a lot”.
Maresca was sacked in January following a series of disagreements with the club’s hierarchy, and after he informed Chelsea that he had spoken to Manchester City and Juventus.
In an interview with The Athletic, conducted while on international duty with Spain, Cucurella has explained the damaging impact of Maresca’s sacking.
“With Enzo Maresca in charge, we were more stable, because we worked together for 18 months,” said Cucurella. “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.
“We knew what Maresca wanted from us. 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.”
Cucurella was not critical of Maresca’s replacement, Liam Rosenior, who he described as a “very good person” with “good football ideas”, but the Spaniard said there has not been time to work on his methods on the training ground.
On the 8-2 aggregate defeat by PSG in the Champions League round of 16, Cucurella said it was a reminder that Chelsea are not at “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,” said Cucurella. “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.”
Cucurella’s comments about Chelsea’s project come after a similar interview by Fernández after the PSG defeat. Speaking to Mexican media, Fernández said of Maresca’s sacking: “I don’t understand it. Sometimes there are things that we as players don’t understand, how and in what way they try to manage things.
“Obviously, it was a departure that hurt us a lot because we had an identity. He gave us an order, even though, as is the way of football, sometimes it’s good and bad. But he always had a very clear identity when it came to training and playing, and obviously his departure hurt us a lot, especially in the middle of the season. It cuts everything short.”
Fernandez then plunged his Chelsea future into doubt, saying “we will see” when asked whether he could guarantee he would stay at the club this summer.
Cucurella: I would have to consider it [Barcelona]
In a press conference ahead of Spain’s friendly against Egypt on Tuesday night, Cucurella cast doubt on his own long-term future by admitting an offer from Barcelona would be “hard to turn down”.
Cucurella is a product of Barcelona’s La Masia academy, but he never established himself in the club’s first team.
“If those situations arrive, they are difficult to reject,” he said. “I would have to consider it. It’s not just me, I also have to think about my family. Between all of us, we would decide what is best for us.
“You always think about going back [to Spain]. [But] I’m very happy there [at Chelsea], and so is my family. I’ll leave it for a few years from now.”