Marc Cucurella believes the Chelsea fans have judged recent signings by their price tags and revealed he has worked with a psychologist to help overcome a difficult start with the club.
Cucurella signed for Chelsea from Brighton for a fee of £62m in 2022 but struggled to make an impact during his first 18 months in West London. The left-back battled back into the team last season and impressed across the run-in, before starring in a Spain team that has reached the final of Euro 2024 this summer.
Spain will take on England in Berlin this weekend in their bid to be crowned European champions and, ahead of the clash, Cucurella has opened up on recovering from a tough period at club level.
“Until the summer of 2022, my football career had been great: a constant progression, always upwards with no setbacks. Then I arrived at a club where the expectations were so, so high,” he told The Athletic.
“Until then, I had played at clubs where every victory felt really special, where every point is celebrated. Then you go to Chelsea, where you win a game because that’s what you have to do. There is no time to chill or enjoy.
“This was something I could expect. But then that first season we had several managerial changes… a lot of things happened in the club. It all combined and it was the perfect storm.
“I had my struggles, too. I spent the first two months living in a hotel with my family, then soon after we found a place to live we had thieves breaking into our home. After this, I spent two days hospitalised for a virus. I lost a lot of weight and had to start from scratch to get in shape again. It wasn’t easy to come back. The team couldn’t find their way on the pitch, either.
“And finally, fans judged me and some other team-mates by the price Chelsea paid for us, which has nothing to do with me! If that money had gone straight into my pocket maybe that would have been fair. People expect that, with certain price tags, you need to be a machine. Sometimes it’s difficult to understand that we are normal people who have our own problems off the pitch. We have worse and better phases in our lives.
“It’s been hard to turn the tables. I’ve worked very hard. I’ve suffered a lot for my family too. That’s been the worst thing. I was a bit scared, in the moments I was being criticised, that when going for a walk in the city with my family someone would insult us. It’s never happened in a bad way but I was a bit wary of that. That’s what made me worry the most. In the end this is part of football, I guess. You have to stay silent and keep working.
“I was working with a psychologist for a while. It helped me a lot to understand my job. Confidence is the most important thing. You miss it when you struggle, but it flows when you thrive. I’ve worked a lot on this, to stabilise those moments. This season I didn’t start well either, not playing much. But I felt I could get better and better, and after training hard I took my chance when it was given.”
