Chelsea’s owners and sporting leadership have grown accustomed to their decisions and strategy being questioned, criticised or even mocked by those outside the club, particularly when results start to go awry. But concerns raised from within are much harder to dismiss.
In an exclusive interview with The Athletic while on international duty with Spain, Marc Cucurella was measured with his words but also honest. He admitted he disagreed with Chelsea’s decision to part ways with head coach Enzo Maresca at the turn of the year, becoming the second member of the squad’s leadership group to publicly lament the Italian’s departure after vice-captain Enzo Fernandez said he did not understand the decision in a post-match interview with Mexican broadcaster TUDN earlier this month.
Cucurella also highlighted what he believes is a broader issue with Chelsea’s recruitment. “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,” he said. “But, for all of us who are still here and want to win big things, moments like this make you feel discouraged.
“We have a good core of players. The foundations are there. But to fight for major trophies such as the Premier League or the Champions League, you need more. Signing young players only might complicate achieving those goals. Against PSG, we lacked players that had gone through situations like that.
“You need time (to develop), and I know the young players are the ones that will have the experience in the future. But you need to find the balance between both worlds.”
His words will resonate with many supporters and outside observers who have been banging the same drum for much of the last three years. Chelsea have always insisted they are open to signing the right veterans on the right terms, and they held interest in acquiring Virgil van Dijk as a free agent last summer if he had opted not to renew with Liverpool.
Chelsea fans are likely to agree with Cucrella’s concerns (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
But actions speak louder than words, and in the fourth season of the BlueCo project, Chelsea’s squad still has by some distance the youngest average age in the Premier League (23.5), according to Transfermarkt. Last summer, their new additions were Joao Pedro (23 when he joined the club), Jamie Gittens (20), Alejandro Garnacho (21), Estevao (18), Jorrel Hato (19), Liam Delap (22), Dario Essugo (20), Mamadou Sarr (19) and Facundo Buonanotte (20) on loan from Brighton.
At 27, Cucurella is one of the elder statesmen at Stamford Bridge, having overcome a rocky start to his Chelsea career to establish himself as one of the most popular and influential personalities in the first-team squad. That status lends authority to his opinions, and as he was keen to stress in a Spain press conference on Monday, he offers them from a position of being happy at the club and settled in west London.
Chelsea will be happier to hear Cucurella’s words of praise for Liam Rosenior, the coach they plucked from BlueCo sister club Strasbourg to succeed Maresca in January, but his comments do not generate much optimism that he and the players can summon the big finishing kick they need to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
“Liam is a very good person and has been great at handling the group, the characters,” Cucurella said of Rosenior. “He likes to stay close to us and his football ideas are good, but we don’t have the time to train them.
“We train on (playing in) competitive games, because we play every three days, and that leaves you with no time to work on the training ground. In this context, it is normal that your plans sometimes don’t work out, and then we go through difficult moments.
“With Enzo Maresca in charge, we were more stable, because we worked together for 18 months. If you look at our first pre-season with him, there were doubts. You need a process for every player to understand what we need to do. In our last months with Maresca, we played almost by heart. If we changed the system, we knew what we had to do. You need that time.
“Look at Arsenal now, who are fighting for every trophy. They’ve been with (Mikel) Arteta for almost seven years, and they have not won much. But that trust in the project gives rewards.”
Maresca and Cucurella react to a Champions League defeat at Atalanta in December 2025 (Carl Recine/Getty Images)
It is clear that Maresca’s mid-season departure was hard for many in the Chelsea dressing room to process; Pedro Neto and Malo Gusto are two others who have gone on record to state their shock in recent months. Fernandez and Cucurella have made it known with their comments that they regard it as an untimely reset, and if this becomes the third of BlueCo’s four seasons of ownership to end with the team outside the Champions League qualification places, the January upheaval at Stamford Bridge will be cited as a major reason why.
What lies beyond this season, in any case, is the most critical summer of BlueCo’s ownership yet. Fernandez appears to have adopted a policy of strategic ambiguity when it comes to questions about his future, and is certainly not inclined to rule out the possibility of a move to Real Madrid. Cucurella will have two years remaining on his contract this summer, the point at which Chelsea are typically motivated to either extend or sell.
All situations remain open. BlueCo’s strategy has always been for Chelsea to retain their best players and seek to upgrade the talent around them, rather than replacing their key men. Long contracts and lofty valuations mean they hold the cards in most cases, but there should be no surprise in top footballers developing questions when the momentum around them stalls.
Some reassurance — and perhaps with it some revisions to the grand plan — may be needed.