3 months ago
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Marc Cucurella insists the Chelsea dressing room is a ‘really happy’ place but it has not been ‘easy’ seeing so many established players leave or frozen out at the start of a new season.
The beginning of Enzo Maresca’s reign has coincided with a summer of unprecedented upheaval in west London, with Joao Felix returning on a permanent basis on Wednesday to become the Blues’ tenth addition of the transfer window.
Chelsea’s bloated squad has seen 13 players removed from first-team training, including Raheem Sterling, who made his feelings clear in the immediate build-up to the side’s Premier League defeat to Manchester City at the weekend.
Ben Chilwell, Romelu Lukaku and Armando Broja were also left out of Maresca’s matchday squad at Stamford Bridge and all four players look likely to follow Conor Gallagher out the exit door before the transfer deadline.
Todd Boehly has received heavy criticism for the way he has handled business since his takeover in 2022 and the turbulence is threatening to cast a shadow over Chelsea’s campaign before it has even got off the ground.
However, speaking to Sky Sports ahead of Chelsea’s Europa Conference League clash with Servette, Cucurella stressed that dealing with difficult situations was ‘sometimes part of the job’.
Asked to describe the mood in the dressing room, Cucurella replied: ‘I think we are really happy. We have a good group, the main group is from the last season and this can help because you need to know other people.
‘For sure, it’s not easy because maybe you have a good relationship with one of the players and they need to leave.
‘We know it’s sometimes part of the job but if we’re not happy, we need to continue speaking or chatting .
‘But for sure, we need to be focused in our job. We know what we need to do and then the rest is not very important.’
Cucurella got a taste for silverware earlier this summer after winning Euro 2024 with Spain – and the full-back has ambitious targets for the season ahead when it comes to trophies.
‘I think we can have an amazing season,’ Cucurella explained.
‘I think, for sure, we need to win trophies. We need to start with one but, for me, if we have the opportunity, I think we can win more than one, hopefully.
‘With good goals and tough targets we can work more to arrive there.
‘Now, I think it needs to be regular as well because last season I think we played amazing games but then we play not very good games.
‘So we need to be more regular and then have the possibility to play European competitions again and then, in the cups, I think we need to do really good work because we have the talent to do it.’
Cucurella met Maresca for the first time in the summer and the new Chelsea boss left a positive impression with his ‘passion’ and clarity of thought.
‘It’s not easy because we have a lot of changes, the style is different and we need to learn a lot of things,’ the Spain defender added.
‘There’s a lot of information but this is about time. We need to take time. We see in the games some good details that we are working on, some good patterns, but it’s about time.
‘We have new players, a new style, so it’s difficult. People say he’s a good manager but since I had my first meeting with him, I knew the passion that he brings, his ideas and he was very clear with what he wants.
‘I like it because it doesn’t matter what he plays, it’s always the same style. It doesn’t matter which players play or not, we have always the same movement, the same patterns.
‘This is very good because if we know what we need to do it’s easy for us and we have the quality so I think we can do good things.’
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