Chelsea defender admits Barcelona transfer 'would be nice'
By Tom Gott
Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella has confessed that he would love the chance to return to former club Barcelona some day.
Cucurella joined Barcelona at Under-16 level in 2012 but left permanently for Eibar seven years later, only for the Blaugrana to trigger his buyback clause 16 days later to re-sign him and loan him to Getafe, who he would join permanently in 2020.
After another 12 months, Cucurella joined Brighton and impressed enough to earn himself a big-money move to Chelsea in 2022, where he has struggled to replicate the levels he showed during his debut season in England.
Having failed to make Spain's squad for the World Cup, Cucurella has remained with Chelsea this winter but took the time to speak to Catalunya Radio about a possible return to Camp Nou.
"I didn't get the chance to really play for Barcelona and I've always been gutted about that," said Cucurella, whose sole appearance for the La Liga side came in a seven-minute Copa del Rey cameo in 2017. "In the end, if I had the chance in future, I would value it, it would be very nice."
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With no World Cup football to play, Cucurella will hope to use the extra training sessions to reacquaint himself with former Brighton boss Graham Potter and work out what has led to him struggling so much this season.
The 24-year-old, whose transfer could cost Chelsea up to £62m, has started 14 times in all competitions but has rarely impressed, losing his spot at left-back to Ben Chilwell before the Englishman went down with an injury.
As for Barcelona, they remain keen to tie down their current left-back prodigy, Alejandro Balde, to a new contract after his impressive start to the season saw him named as Jose Gaya's replacement for Luis Enrique's World Cup squad.