Chelsea star Marc Cucurella has claimed that his price tag left him a target for criticism, but believes he’s now proven his value.
The full-back has been speaking to COPE in Spain about his career to date and the rollercoaster he’s been on at Chelsea since arriving from Brighton and Hove Albion in August 2022.
Chelsea paid €65.3m to sign him that summer as part of their major spending under the new Todd Boehly led regime, beating Manchester City to the defender in the process.
Paying such a price appeared to have been a major mistake early on in the player’s time at the club as he failed to impress and appeared to be something of a disastrous signing.
That led to plenty of criticism from fans and pundits alike, but the 26-year-old has since bounced back, first establishing himself under Mauricio Pochettino before enjoying a glorious summer as a key player in Spain’s success at Euro 2024.
Questions about him and his price tag are no longer at the forefront of the conversation and the Chelsea man is glad of that, feeling the cost of his transfer left him as a target at times.
“They pay €65m for you: they pay a price that is high, but you can’t do anything,” he said when asked by journalist Miguel Ángel Díaz about the transfer.
“At the beginning, until you prove it, people have you more in their sights and they go after you more… but it’s getting cheaper.”
