Marc Cucurella

Marc Cucurella Saseta (Catalan pronunciation: [ˈmaɾ(k) kukuˈɾeʎə səˈzɛtə]; born 22 July 1998) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a left-back or left wing-back for Premier League club Chelsea and the Spain national team. He is considered one of the best left-backs in the world.

Cucurella made his senior club debut at Barcelona, but spent most of his time there with the reserve team. He went on to play over 100 La Liga games for Eibar and Getafe, before joining Brighton & Hove Albion in 2021. He spent a season with Brighton before joining Chelsea in 2022, winning the Conference League and the FIFA Club World Cup three years later.

Cucurella was capped for Spain over every youth level from under-16 to under-23, winning the silver medal with the latter at the 2020 Olympic tournament. He made his debut for the senior team in 2021 and later represented the side at UEFA Euro 2024, where Spain won the tournament.

Cucurella was born in Alella, Barcelona, Catalonia. He started playing futsal with FS Alella before joining Espanyol's youth teams in 2006, and in 2012, he moved to Barcelona. On 26 November 2016, while still a junior, he made his senior debut with the reserves by starting in a 4–0 home win over L'Hospitalet in the Segunda División B.

Cucurella contributed with 17 appearances for the side, achieving promotion to the Segunda División via the play-offs. On 7 July 2017, he renewed his contract until 2021, with a €12 million clause. He made his professional debut on 1 September, starting in a 2–2 away draw against Granada. He made his first-team debut on 24 October, coming on as a late substitute for Lucas Digne in a 3–0 Copa del Rey away win against Real Murcia. He scored his first senior goal for Barcelona B on 17 March 2018, equalising in a draw away to Lorca.

On 31 August 2018, Cucurella was loaned to fellow La Liga club SD Eibar, for one year with a €2 million buyout clause. He made his top-flight debut on 25 September in a 1–0 loss away to Espanyol. Appearing as one of eight changes by manager José Luis Mendilibar, he was praised by Marca journalist Ander Barroso despite the result. He scored his first La Liga goal on the final day of the season on 9 May 2019, opening the scoring in 2–2 draw at home to his parent club.

At the end of his loan, Eibar exercised Cucurella's clause, making him a permanent player for the Basque team; along with the transfer, Barcelona added a €4 million buyback option. On 16 July 2019, after just sixteen days as a permanent Eibar player, this clause was activated, only for him to be loaned to Getafe two days later for the upcoming season, with an option to buy for €6 million and 40% of the rights remaining to Barcelona.

Cucurella made his European debut on 19 September 2019 as a substitute for Kenedy in a 1–0 home win over Trabzonspor in the UEFA Europa League group stage. He played eight games of that campaign, which ended 11 months later with a 2–0 loss on aggregatre to Inter Milan in the last 16.