Chelsea set price for Man City and Barcelona to sign Marc Cucurella

Marc Cucurella could leave Chelsea this summer (Picture: Getty)

Chelsea have set their asking price for Marc Cucurella as Manchester City and Barcelona line up summer moves for the defender.

Eyebrows were raised when Chelsea signed Cucurella in 2022 but the Spanish defender has become a key player at Stamford Bridge.

A number of pundits questioned Chelsea’s £60m move for Cucurella following his one and only season at Brighton and suspected the Blues were making a mistake.

Cucurella has turned out to be a shrewd signing, however, and is now rated as one of the best left-backs in the world.

The 27-year-old has made over 50 appearances for Chelsea in both of the last two seasons, helping former boss Enzo Maresca win the Club World Cup and Conference League.

Cucurella enjoyed playing under Maresca and criticised Chelsea’s decision to sack Maresca and bring in inexperienced manager Liam Rosenior .

Maresca is now expected to take over at Manchester City as Pep Guardiola’s successor and is believed to be interested in reuniting with Cucurella .

Ex-Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca is set to join Man City (Picture: Getty)

But the talented full-back has also been linked with Barcelona, where he started his career, and fellow La Liga side Atletico Madrid.

According to talkSPORT , Chelsea are prepared to sell Cucurella this summer providing their valuation is met and are asking for around 70m euros (£61m).

Cucurella is contracted to Chelsea for another three seasons but is open to a summer move after a demoralising season in which the Blues finished just 10th in the Premier League.

Chelsea owner Todd Boehly (Picture: Getty)

Taking aim at the Chelsea board after a humbling Champions League defeat to PSG , Cucurella told The Athletic : ‘We lacked experience. For a lot of players, it was the first time playing a match of that calibre, and we paid the price…

‘Results like that are always hard to take. You are fighting and training every day only to realise, at the very end, that when games matter, we are still a bit away from the top level.

‘I understand this is part of the club’s policy, and that they want to take this direction – signing young players and looking to the future.

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‘But, for all of us who are still here and want to win big things, moments like this make you feel discouraged.

‘We have a good core of players. The foundations are there. But to fight for major trophies such as the Premier League or the Champions League, you need more.

‘Signing young players only might complicate achieving those goals. Against PSG, we lacked players that had gone through situations like that.

Wantaway Chelsea stars Cucurella and Enzo Fernandez (Picture: Getty)

‘You need time as well, and I know the young players are the ones that will have the experience in the future. But you need to find the balance between both worlds.’

Discussing Chelsea’s decision to change manager midway through the season , Cucurella added: ‘With Enzo Maresca in charge, we were more stable, because we worked together for 18 months.

‘If you look at our first pre-season with him, there were doubts. You need a process for every player to understand what we need to do.

‘In our last months with Maresca, we played almost by heart. If we changed the system, we knew what we had to do. You need that time.

‘The moment Maresca left, it had a big impact on us. These are decisions taken by the club. If you asked me, I would not have made this decision.’

Cucurella is not the only Chelsea player being linked with a summer move. Enzo Fernandez is also believed to be keen to leave amid interest from Real Madrid .

Chelsea appointed Xabi Alonso as their new manager last month – the ex-Liverpool and Real Madrid midfielder takes charge of the club in July.

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