Chelsea summer signing opens up on Barcelona regret, admits transfer to La Liga ‘would be very nice’ | OneFootball

Chelsea star Marc Cucurella has admitted that it “would be very nice” to return to Barcelona so he can play for the Spanish giants again before he retires.

Cucurella had spells at Espanyol and FC Barcelona as a youth player.

He made his senior debut for Barcelona in the Copa del Rey in October 2017 and this proved to be his only appearance for the Spanish giants.

The defender went onto have spells at Eibar and Getafe before he signed for Brighton & Hove Albion last year.

The Seagulls paid around £15m to bring Cucurella to the Premier League. They have a good track record in the transfer market and he is an example of an astute addition.

The 24-year-old was one of the breakout stars in the Premier League last term as he shone in his debut season.

Cucurella attracted interest from several clubs in the summer, including Manchester City and Chelsea.

Premier League champions City considered him as a replacement for Oleksandr Zinchenko who joined Arsenal.

City pulled out of the running after being put off by Brighton’s asking price. They instead signed Sergio Gomez from Anderlecht for around £11m.

Chelsea pushed right ahead though and the fee they paid for Cucurella is understood to be around £63m.

Not long after he joined the club, Thomas Tuchel was sacked and Chelsea replaced him with ex-Brighton boss Graham Potter.

Cucurella is yet to fully get going in a Chelsea shirt and he will hope that the World Cup break can do him good.

But it appears that he already has one eye on what is next after Chelsea. He has admitted that he would like to return to Barcelona in the future.

“I didn’t get the chance to really play for Barcelona and I’ve always been gutted about that,” Cucurella admitted (via 90min).

“In the end, if I had the chance in future, I would value it, it would be very nice.”

Ex-Chelsea defender William Gallas recently argued that Cucurella is not worth the fee his former club paid for him.

“They spent a lot of money in the summer. The players that they signed have been performing below the expected level of a Chelsea player,” Gallas claimed.

“Wesley Fofana is injured, but we all knew about his injury record. I don’t know what they are getting from Cucarella, who was signed for £60million! He doesn’t play for Spain. He isn’t in the Chelsea starting eleven. £60million! Wow!

“They signed Aubameyang. He doesn’t look good – he did nothing against Arsenal and was on the bench against Newcastle.

“The club didn’t have any strategy in the transfer window. They rushed it. They tried to buy players for Tuchel, then they sacked him. At the moment, it is a big mess at Chelsea.”