Marc Cucurella acquired 'by chance': the background

The soccer market is full of behind-the-scenes and peculiar episodes: this is the case, for example, of the purchase of Marc Cucurella by Chelsea. After a stratospheric season played with the Brighton shirt, the Spanish defender was in the sights of the best clubs in Europe and Manchester City seemed very close to his purchase, but then Cucurella switched to Chelsea for more than 65 million euros.

In an interview with iConnections, Chelsea owners Todd Boehly revealed a sensational backstory: “That year I was forced to change my entire management staff and improvised myself as interim sporting director for that summer. I didn&#8217t really know how to move and how to acquire players but I had been told that Manchester City wanted Marc Cucurella and so I thought it was a good move to sign him, so I contacted Brighton and did it’I did it”.

Since his move to Chelsea, the Spanish defender has grown so much and is now among the pillars of Liam Rosenior’s team. The Blues, currently sixth in the league, exonerated Enzo Maresca this year after the Italian coach had some problems with the various sporting directors the English club has on its payroll. Chelsea’s management structure is particularly complex and has as many as five sporting directors.

Despite the huge expenses faced in recent years, Chelsea has not always managed to reap good results. Although different in size, the issue resembles that of Manchester United: the Red Devils have also been facing a serious crisis for several years now despite the many champions they have acquired. Manchester United’s difficulties are also certified by the many successive coaches: after Alex Ferguson’s dominance (1986-2013), David Moyes (2013-2014), Ryan Giggs (4 games in 2014), Louis van Gaal (2014-2016), Jose Mourinho (2016-2018), Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (2018-2021) came to the club’s bench, Michael Carrick (3 games in 2021), Ralf Rangnick (2021-2022), Erik ten Hag (2022-2024), Ruud van Nistelrooy (4 games in 2024), Rúben Amorim (2024-2026), Darren Fletcher (2 games in January 2026), and now there’is Michael Carrick.