Chelsea are an enigma for a membership in the intervening time as they will emerge from the Etihad with a well-deserved level per week later, solely to battle to Brentford a fortnight later.
Mauricio Pochettino’s facet are one of the vital entertaining groups to look at within the Premier League this season exactly due to this unpredictability, though that is in all probability not what Todd Boehly and Co have been hoping for after they began splashing the money a number of years in the past throw.
There have been a number of switch successes right here and there throughout their quick reign, corresponding to Cole Palmer and Malo Gusto, however there have been many extra failures, one in every of which is now value considerably lower than Gusto.
Marc Cucurella’s score earlier than Chelsea
The participant in query is Spanish full-back and former Brighton & Hove Albion chief Marc Cucurella, who joined the Blues in August 2022 for a reasonably important payment of round £60 million.
That may sound like some huge cash for a participant like Cucurella as we speak, as a result of it’s, however in equity to Chelsea, whereas it was nonetheless thought of overpayment on the time, it did not fairly appear that approach. absurd as it’s as we speak.
The then 24-year-old was coming off the again of an excellent marketing campaign with the Seagulls by which he made 38 appearances, scoring one purpose, offering two assists, successful the Males’s Participant of the Season award at Brighton and being named within the Guardian’s Gamers of the Season- listing as well.
In reality, his first season in English soccer was so spectacular that with the departure of Oleksandr Zinchenko, it actually regarded like Manchester Metropolis would signal him earlier than Chelsea stepped in to pay the big payment on his head.
However given the Spaniard’s latest valuation, Boelhy and Co are prone to remorse successful the battle for Thomas Tuchel.
Ranking by Marc Cucurella in 2024
How did the £60million left-back fare in his first season as a Chelsea participant? Sadly not good in any respect.
A defender beforehand described as a “nice footballer”, by talent scout Jacek Kulig, he has been something however that in Chelsea colors. That debut season noticed him play 33 video games for the Pensioners all season, making simply 26 begins, scoring zero objectives and offering simply two assists.
The Alella-born star was injured in direction of the tip of the season, however that solely noticed him miss seven video games and 38 matchdays, so it could hardly be used as an excuse for his lack of taking part in time. Furthermore, when he was on the sphere, he was removed from convincing.
He was described as “a poor spend of £60 million” by talkSPORT pundit and former skilled Gabby Agbonlahor simply earlier than the World Cup and subsequently criticized in April 2023 by former Dutch footballer and supervisor Jan Boskamp, who claimed that “he would not thought” when he performed within the league. the Champions League.
Issues weren’t nice this season both, as after spending the primary few months on the bench, Ben Chilwell’s hamstring harm finally pressured his approach again into the XI, solely to undergo a severe ankle harm. his personal in December, an harm from which he has solely simply returned.
Total, his lack of taking part in time, poor on-field performances and up to date accidents have triggered his worth to drop considerably in latest months.
In keeping with the CIES Soccer Observatory, the “horrible” full-back is As described by Chelsea content creator Alex Goldbergis now value simply €15m, which is round €13m, or a whopping £47m lower than what Chelsea paid for him in 2022. For context, that is the identical as fringe participant Cesare Casadei.
By comparability, right-back Gusto, who joined the membership with little fanfare final January, is presently valued at round €20 million by the Soccer Observatory. It will not be a shock if this determine elevated considerably within the coming months.
Associated
Chelsea have had an issue with the signing of Lampard, whose worth has dropped by £37 million
The Blues star has struggled for consistency at Stamford Bridge.
In the end, signing Cucurella in 2022 made sense, however his continued poor performances for the Pensioners have seen a decline in worth within the 12 months and a half since, and it could be troublesome to explain the switch as something aside from a failure at this level.