Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella has been blunt and honest with his views on the club’s management during his time on duty in Spain. The 27-year-old player spoke like this shortly before admitting that he has thought about returning to La Liga in the coming years.
Cucurella admitted on Monday that it would be difficult to turn down a return to Barcelona if the opportunity arose. His comments follow that the star of Chelsea, Enzo Fernandez, rejected the indications that he would like to stay in Madrid, fueling the suspicion that he is determined to end his move to Real Madrid.
Cucurella: Chelsea’s signing policy lacks balance
Speaking in an interview with Athletic, conducted before his press conference, Cucurella revealed that he was not convinced by Chelsea’s policy of spending a lot of money on developing talents without bringing in experienced players.
“I understand that this is part of the club’s policy, and that they want to take this approach – to sign young players and look to the future. But, for all of us who are still there and want to win big things, moments like this make you feel sad.”
“We have a good core of players. The basics are there. But to fight for big trophies like the Premier League or the Champions League, you need more. Signing young players can be difficult to achieve those goals. Against PSG, we lacked players who have been through such situations. You also need time, and I know that young players are the ones who will find the balance you need in the future.
‘Chelsea should follow Arsenal’s example’
Continuing to discuss the management situation at Stamford Bridge, Cucurella was optimistic about current manager Liam Rosenior, but explained that it was impossible for him to implement his methods at this stage of the season.
“Liam is a very good person and he has been good at managing the team, the actors. He likes to stay close to us and his football ideas are good, but we don’t have time to train them. We train for competitive games, because we play every three days and that leaves you with no time to work on the training ground. In this situation, it is normal that your plans succeed, sometimes we don’t.”
📸 FC Barcelona players are on duty in Spain. pic.twitter.com/nIWiHr2kOW
– barcacentre (@barcacentre) March 31, 2026
“Since we were in charge of Enzo Maresca, we were stable, because we worked together for 18 months. If you look at our first pre-season with him, there were doubts. You need the process of every player to understand what we have to do. In our last months with Maresca, we played almost by heart. If we changed the plan, we knew what we had to do. You need all the time to fight against Arsenal. (Mikel) Arteta for almost seven years and they have not won much but that trust in the project brings rewards.
‘I wouldn’t fire Maresca’ – Cucurella
There were rumors that Fernandez was also disappointed with the decision to fire Maresca, while Cucurella directly opposed the decision made by the team to do so.
“When Maresca left, it had a big impact on us. These are decisions made by the team. If you asked me, I wouldn’t have taken this decision. To make a change like this, the best thing is to wait until the end of the season. You could give everyone, the players and the new manager, time to prepare, have a full pre-season….”
“The instability at the club comes from this, in short. We had a goalkeeper (former Under-21 coach Calum McFarlane) first, then a new manager, with new ideas and no time to fix them. This is what it is.”
Chelsea are currently in the middle of next season’s Champions League battle, lying behind Manchester United, Aston Villa and Liverpool. Given the comments of Fernandez and Cucurella, it may suggest that the seniors in Chelsea are not guaranteed by the London project – a sign related to the ownership group.
