Chelsea Agree £52m Deal to Sell Cucurella to Real Madrid

Chelsea have reached an agreement with Real Madrid to sell left back Marc Cucurella for £52million.

The 27-year-old Spain international is set to move to the Spanish capital for an upfront fee of around £47.4m, with a further £4.3m in add-ons that can be triggered. The deal is not yet fully done, as the paperwork still needs to be completed.

Real Madrid beat out competition from Barcelona and Atletico Madrid to land the defender, with new manager Jose Mourinho said to have played a big role in pushing the club into the race and getting the agreement over the line quickly.

The move comes as a surprise given that Cucurella had said publicly several times in the past week that he did not want to be distracted by transfer talk while on international duty at the World Cup. He had also told reporters that he spoke with Chelsea's new manager Xabi Alonso and came away from that conversation feeling positive about his future at the club.

But Cucurella had also been vocal over the past season about decisions at Stamford Bridge that he disagreed with, including the departure of head coach Enzo Maresca on New Year's Day. That raised questions about whether he had become unhappy at the club.

Chelsea teammate Enzo Fernandez, who himself has been linked with a move to Madrid and received an internal two-match ban for his conduct, liked a social media post confirming the Cucurella deal.

Cucurella joined Chelsea from Brighton in 2022 in a deal worth up to £63m. He is now set to leave with three years still left on his contract, after the club missed out on European football next season under Alonso.