Marc Cucurella endured an awful first season at Chelsea (Photo: Getty)
Marc Cucurella wants to stay and fight for his place at Chelsea amid rumours he could leave, according to reports.
The defender moved to Stamford Bridge last summer in a £60million deal after a single, excellent season at Brighton.
And with his former Seagulls manager Graham Potter following him to west London soon after, it was expected that he would continue his upward trajectory with the Blues.
Fast-forward a year, and Potter has been replaced by Mauricio Pochettino following a horrific season where Chelsea finished 12th in the Premier League – with Cucurella one of the club’s worst performing players.
He was booed by his own supporters in back-to-back games against West Ham and Dortmund and suffered the indignity of getting subbed off after just 36 minutes against Manchester United back in October.
The left-back failed to surpass Ben Chilwell in the pecking order, unless the England international was injured, and eventually lost his place to youngster Lewis Hall come season’s end.
With Pochettino conducting a clear out at the club in order to raise funds there had been speculation that the Blues could cut their losses on the 24-year-old, just as they have with other expensive flops like Kalidou Koulibaly and Kai Havertz.
Cucurella wants to impress Mauricio Pochettino in pre-season (Photo: Getty)
There has been interest from clubs in Saudi Arabia, as well as Atletico Madrid, but the one-capped Spain international’s agent recently shut down the reports linking him to the La Liga giants.
Now, the Evening Standard have claimed that Cucurella has decided to turn down any and all transfer interest and is keen to impress Pochettino following the first week of pre-season training under the Argentine manager.
Chelsea have already done a lot to sell of fringe players and drum up some much needed funds, with nine stars leaving for approximately £190m in total.
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Some of that has already been reinvested into signing forwards Christopher Nkunku and Nicolas Jackson, with their attention now turning to defensive midfield.
The Blues have been eyeing up Cucurella’s former Brighton teammate Moises Caicedo for some time, who is viewed as the ideal midfield partner for Enzo Fernandez.
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The 24-year-old has also been linked to Saudi Arabia.