Marc Cucurella joined Chelsea from Brighton in the summer of 2022 for an eye-watering fee of £63 million. The curly-haired Spanish left-back was burdened with the great weight of becoming the most expensive left-back in transfer history, surpassing Theo Hernandez.
His ride with Chelsea was anything but smooth. He struggled to adapt to a team whose style of football was much more intense than anything he had ever played in his career. To worsen his predicament, he fell ill for a long time and was struck down with the fate of being a scapegoat for the already terrible Chelsea side of 22/23. Cucurella was the main focus for slander by a majority of the fan base and even I am guilty of this. The frustration of the season got to everyone and even the little civility which ought to remain in the relations with players disappeared like thin smoke into the heavens.
Cucurella was also an object of ridicule from the biased English media and received countless slurs from numerous pundits; a reminder that they're supposed to be objective in doing their job. If you've made it this far in the article, then you must have quite the resolve— the same attribute Cucurella possessed in his trying times.
Despite Pundits telling him to cut his voluminous hair, and despite Ben Chilwell running up and down the left flank without any care for him, Cucurella persevered towards the end of the season and rightfully held his spot given to him by Pochettino. With the same vigour that a child holds onto a candy, the Spaniard locked down the left side of the defence without any chance of letting it go. Cucurella became a focal point for the renaissance the Chelsea side where going through and pushed them into a European slot.
Going into the Euros, many expected him to be sidelined for Leverkusen's Grimaldo, who had a fabulous campaign with the German team. However, Luis De La Fuente had other ideas. Having worked with Cucurella during the Olympics of 2015, De La Fuente seemed to know the true strength of the Left-back and he made sure we all found out too.
The first, second, and third games came and went seeing Spain tear through their opponents with reckless abandon but what was more fascinating was that Cucurella was still a part of this skilful side. Gary Neville must have been covering his head in shame after saying on national television that Cucurella would be the reason Spain failed to go far in the competition. Ironically, that same Cucurella who he once insulted for his hair would assist the goal that ended his country's dreams of a first tournament victory since 1966.
Cucurella was dropping masterpiece performance after masterpiece performance. Against the Germans, he was flawless. Against France, Dembele found no joy and even though the unsportsmanlike German fans booed his excellence, it only alluded to the fact that he was on the uprise.
Into the finals, we went, and still everyone was talking about how he had risen so much but it was still being overshadowed by the uproar of the overhyped English players. Spain ran riot and dismantled Southgate's extremely lucky team with Yamal and Williams combining for a record-breaking goal. The English team equalized through the Ice-cold Palmer but their fourth clover luck would eventually run out when the demon of the Spanish left wing drilled a ball into the path of Oryazabal who won the game in the 87th minute.
And so, Marc Cucurella's uplifting tournament came to an end. He has become quite a buzz around social media platforms and those who spoke against him have become his biggest fans— myself included. It's not that we matter, it's not like any of us ever mattered. In the end, he was bound to be a shining light and there is nothing as quite beautiful as seeing a football star elevate from villain to hero.
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