Hello! We like a footballer who says what he thinks. Chelsea’s Marc Cucurella has done just that.
Coming up:
Has a Chelsea player revealed how squad feel about owners BlueCo?
(Photos: Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton)
The art of an interview is getting the subject to speak their mind, and The Athletic’s exclusive chat with Marc Cucurella this morning is a blinder. I wouldn’t go so far as saying that Cucurella has unloaded on Chelsea but he’s not exactly toed the party line either.
Chelsea like to extol the virtues of their strategy, regardless of the scepticism surrounding it: the vast expenditure on young players, their choice of head coaches, their long stretch without a front-of-shirt sponsor and so on. All of this is headed somewhere golden, they tell us. Not all of those on the outside are convinced.
In their defence, they won FIFA’s Club World Cup last year (UEFA’s Conference League, too, although that was there for the taking given the strength of the opposition), but they haven’t pushed on. Enzo Maresca’s spell as head coach came to a messy end in January. They exited the Champions League three weeks ago and they’re not certain of qualifying for it again via the Premier League. The chips are stacked on Liam Rosenior, Maresca’s raw replacement in the technical area.
If people externally are questioning Chelsea’s plan of attack, Cucurella, their Spanish full-back, would appear to harbour doubts himself. Check out these quotes from our article:
- On Maresca’s exit: “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.”
- On losing to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League: “We lacked experience. 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. To fight for major trophies such as the Premier League or the Champions League, you need more.”
Cucurella’s candid comments hit home
It’s quite the read, with an interviewee who doesn’t pull any punches (he doesn’t hold back on the furore around Chelsea’s pre-match huddle, either). It’s also telling that this voice is coming from inside the Stamford Bridge dressing room, which makes you question whether the squad at large, or the more hardened members of it, feel the same.
If I were in charge at Chelsea, Cucurella’s comments would make me think, because they sound like very honestly held opinions rather than somebody angling for attention. Perhaps the club’s owners aren’t getting it right — but something tells me they intend to stay the course they’ve set.
News Round-Up
(Gabriel Bouys/AFP via Getty Images)
- Just 78 days out from the World Cup, Ghana sacked their head coach this morning. Otto Addo paid the price for five straight defeats, the latest at the hands of Germany last night
- Mauricio Pochettino says he would consider staying on as USMNT head coach beyond the World Cup. He’s been linked with a return to Tottenham Hotspur, but Spurs are actively attempting to hire Roberto De Zerbi on a long-term contract. Pochettino’s U.S. deal ends this summer.
- DR Congo’s World Cup place is on the line. It’s them or Jamaica in tonight’s inter-confederation play-off final in Guadalajara, Mexico. Sadly, Congo fan Lumumba Vea (real name Michel Kuka Mboladinga) — you’ll know him as the man who stands stationary throughout entire games (see image above) — won’t be in attendance. He couldn’t secure a visa.
- It’s not the first time we’ve seen this in the Premier League but Newcastle United no longer own their St James’ Park stadium. The club’s owners have effectively sold it to themselves.
- Cardiff City have lost a legal claim for more than £100million related to the death of striker Emiliano Sala in 2019. The League One side were seeking damages from French club Nantes, who they signed Sala from shortly before he died in a plane crash.
- FIFA has confirmed that the ‘daylight’ offside rule championed by ex-Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is to be trialled in the Canadian Premier League. It will be good to go when the new CPL season starts this weekend.
Cesc Fabregas: Turning heads in Italy for better and for worse
(Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)
Our series on Europe’s hottest managers has kept me hooked throughout the international break. It’s worth knowing who’s who in emerging coaching circles because these men might one day lay claim to the continent’s biggest jobs.
What struck me about the clutch we chose to profile is that most of them had no playing career to speak of. Hoffenheim’s Christian Ilzer, for instance, once trained as an electrician. Cesc Fabregas is an outlier in that respect: a decorated midfielder who made it big with Arsenal, Chelsea, Barcelona and Spain.
I wanted to touch on James Horncastle’s homage to Fabregas because it opened my eyes to two things I didn’t fully appreciate: just how bright a coach he is proving to be, and just how much the establishment in Italy seem to dislike him.
Fabregas is in charge of Como, and here are some facts to underline his influence there. The club won promotion from Serie B in his first season, after 21 years outside the top flight. In season two, they’re fourth in Serie A and are a handful of results from qualifying for next season’s Champions League. They have the best defence in the division. The only attack that performs better is that of leaders Inter.
James thinks Fabregas is a shout for Serie A coach of the year but as Fabregas himself concedes, he’s not inherently popular. The prevailing criticism of him is that he has too much to say for himself; that he brought the Barcelona model to Italy (even though that isn’t strictly true); that he shuns the favoured 3-5-2 in Serie A; that he doesn’t use many Italian players (fair comment); and that, at 38, he shouldn’t be able to school more experienced rivals.
It’s decidedly odd because of all the managers we’ve studied closely, he feels like the one who could go furthest. I’d put money on us seeing Fabregas in the Premier League one day — and the Premier League warming to his capabilities far more.
UEFA freeze Euro 2028 ticket prices — take note, FIFA
Despite FIFA’s rhetoric about overwhelming interest, it’s not entirely clear how many tickets for the 2026 World Cup have been sold. Were prices more affordable, FIFA might not be having to open a “last-minute sales phase” to shift another batch tomorrow.
The cost of seats in North America this summer was brought into sharper focus yesterday by news that UEFA is planning to freeze most ticket charges for the 2028 European Championship. They’ll broadly stick at the same level set for Euro 2024.
Of most relevance are the prices themselves. UEFA’s cheapest seats will cost around £26 ($34). The category above that comes in at roughly £52 ($69). Europe’s governing body has promised that over 40 per cent of tickets will fall into one of these two brackets.
The contrast drawn by Matt Slater is that the money being asked for a car parking space at a single game during this summer’s World Cup could buy five Euro 2028 tickets. That’s without even mentioning FIFA’s category one prices, which have risen to as much as $2,700. The moral of the story: in no way does football’s greatest show need to be as expensive as it is. But you knew that already.
Around TAFC
- This is a lovely bit of colour on first-time World Cup qualifiers Uzbekistan, a team on the rise and a country that has undergone a massive cultural shift since the days when, to quote from Tim Spiers’ feature, “it was North Korea-lite”.
- And what of Kosovo, football’s youngest nation, who are one result from the 2026 finals? Colin Millar explains why this evening’s play-off final against Turkey means so much to them.
- Were you aware of the huge part that Belgian side Sint-Truiden VV have played in strengthening Japan’s national squad? No, me neither. Jordan Campbell’s feature will tell you all about it.
- Roberto De Zerbi is a fundamentally talented coach. But Spurs appointing him would potentially alienate a chunk of their fanbase at a time when they simply cannot afford any infighting. Is he worth the risk?
- Most clicked in Monday’s TAFC: The farcical USMNT-Belgium shirt clash.
Catch A Match
Selected games (kick-offs ET/UK time)
UEFA World Cup qualifying play-off finals (all 2.45pm/7.45pm, and Amazon Prime in UK): Bosnia-Herzegovina vs Italy; Czech Republic vs Denmark; Kosovo vs Turkey — all Fox, Fubo, ViX; Sweden vs Poland — ViX.
Inter-continental World Cup qualifying play-off finals: DR Congo vs Jamaica, 5pm/10pm — Fox, Fubo, Peacock Premium, Amazon Prime
Iraq vs Bolivia, 11pm/4am — Fox, Peacock Premium/DAZN, FIFA+.
International friendlies: England vs Japan, 2.45pm/7.45pm – ViX/ITV; Spain vs Egypt, 3pm/8pm — Fubo, ViX/Amazon Prime; USMNT vs Portugal – 7pm/12am — TNT, Peacock Premium/Premier Sports; Brazil vs Croatia, 8pm/1am — ESPN, Fubo/ITV.
And Finally…
A Kylian Mbappe video went viral yesterday, showing off his basketball skills in France’s dressing room (above) following their win over Colombia at the weekend.
Deep in the bowels of the Washington Commanders’ Northwest Stadium, Mbappe hit the bin LeBron-James style, and in light of his recent struggles at Real Madrid, it’s no bad thing to see a) the forward having fun and b) that niggly left knee coping with his celebration. Are things looking up?