Ex-FC Barcelona star Marc Cucurella has broken his silence on joining Real Madrid from Chelsea during an interview with El Mundo.
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Ex-FC Barcelona star Marc Cucurella has broken his silence on joining Real Madrid from Chelsea during an interview with El Mundo.
Cucurella had been linked with a possible return to his boyhood club this summer, after publicly flirting with the Blaugrana and admitting that the prospect would be “hard to turn down” while on international duty.
Out of nowhere, however, a re-elected Florentino Perez tabled a $69.3 million (€60 million) offer for the left back swiftly accepted by Chelsea, which made him Spain’s only Los Blancos star at the World Cup.
Speaking out regarding the move, Cucurella admitted that it’s all happened so quickly.
“Everything was done in a day and a half or two. For me it’s much better, much faster, without any headaches,” he said.
Already booed by suspected Barça fans in the stands watching Spain’s opening World Cup 2026 draw with Cabo Verde on Monday, Cucurella risks angering them further with comments about switching to their arch rivals.
“There were different options, but when the Madrid offer came, I didn’t hesitate. I think it’s a unique opportunity. Playing for Real Madrid is an honor, and not many players can say that. It has a mystique. I don’t know how to describe it. It’s unpredictable. I think that’s been seen many times in the historic comebacks,” Cucurella explained.
“Life has different stages. I’ve had to make an important decision, and I have no doubts. Every footballer dreams of competing at the elite level and for great clubs. When you’re a child, you dream of playing for great teams, and I think Real Madrid is one of them. It’s the team with the most Champions League titles in the world,” he added.
With those remarks, Cucurella is bound to enrage Culers. Raised in the village of Alella in the Maresme region, around 15 miles east of the Spotify Camp Nou, he is a La Masia product that owes his fellow Catalans everything.
Joining Madrid is one thing. Yet praising them in such a manner is unforgivable and can put him in the same bracket as Luis Figo.
Figo famously made the ultimate betrayal in 2000 when Perez became Real Madrid president for the first time. He had fake peseta notes, lighters and even a pig’s head thrown at him when returning to Catalonia for the first time to play in El Clasico, following his world record switch.
Cucurella is setting himself up for a similarly frosty reception, though he seems to care very little after being booed throughout Euro 2024 by Germans and then for Spain again at the turn of the week.
In terms of FC Barcelona’s squad planning, Cucurella’s move to Madrid is good news for Alejandro Balde. He’ll now have less competition for the left back spot after ‘Cucu’ took it away from him in the Spain national team, though we also have to wait and see if Joao Cancelo’s loan from Al-Hilal is made permanent in the coming weeks.
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