José Mourinho has raided his old club to sign Marc Cucurella for Real Madrid in a deal worth more than £50m.
Having been reappointed by Real, former Chelsea manager Mourinho has made Cucurella, who had been linked with Real’s Madrid rivals Atlético, one of his first signings.
The defender is at the World Cup with Spain, but has agreed to join Real after the Spanish club struck a deal with Chelsea, who he criticised in a March interview.
Real have agreed to pay Chelsea €55m (£47.5m), plus €5m (£4.3m) in add-ons to sign Cucurella, whose Chelsea contract had been due to run until 2029.
Cucurella joined Chelsea from Brighton for almost £60m in August 2022, with co-owner Todd Boehly recently revealing he had only moved for him because Manchester City had been interested.
After a tough start to his Chelsea career, Cucurella cemented his place as the club’s first-choice left-back and was part of the team who won last summer’s Club World Cup.
But Cucurella was open to leaving Chelsea this summer, having appeared to question the club’s strategy after Liam Rosenior replaced Enzo Maresca as head coach.
Enzo Fernandez is also open to leaving Chelsea this summer and has been linked with a move to Real, but the London club want £120m for the midfielder.
Xabi Alonso will start work as Rosenior’s permanent replacement on July 1, but that has not stopped the departure of 27-year-old Cucurella, who is one of the older members of the squad.
Chelsea finished 10th in the Premier League last season and failed to qualify for Europe after changing coaches.
In an interview with The Athletic last season, Cucurella said: “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 first, then a new manager, with new ideas and no time to work on them. It is what it is.”
On Chelsea’s tendency to sign younger players, Cucurella added: “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.
“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.”
