Since the Premier League season finished, Marc Cucurella has now played over 500 minutes of football. Across five matches for club and country, he has been an ever-present on the field.
That includes the Conference League final, Nations League semi-final and then final, and now both games at the Club World Cup. That is 480 minutes (the Nations League final went to extra time and penalties) without including stoppage time, which takes it beyond the 500 mark.
In the Premier League he almost doubled his minutes from last season under Mauricio Pochettino, when he was initially free to leave to the end of Enzo Maresca’s first year. He has gone from being widely ridiculed to now rated among the best in his position.
There are defensive weaknesses to his game which Maresca aims to hide whilst exploiting his use of space in the attacking third, as well as an uncanny ability to arrive in the box to score at crucial moments, but there can be no denying how much things have turned in his favour since the start of 2024.
His status as one of the key players in this squad is shown by the fact that only three others played more league minutes last season, and they were Moises Caicedo (who started every single game), Cole Palmer (the obvious fulcrum), and Levi Colwill (Maresca’s first choice centre-back).
Cucurella played more than Enzo Fernandez, for example, and only missed two matches. Both were through suspension. Maresca has made him a versatile and central part to his varying team structure. Be it playing in an inverted midfield role, pushing forward into attacking midfield, or as the wide place holder against low-blocks, there has always been somewhere for Cucurella to operate.
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The impact from Cucurella has been largely exceptional and extremely valuable. He popped up with five league goals from December to May and also bagged in the Conference League quarter-finals. The worry is how limited Chelsea are outside of their left-back.
Having become so important for Chelsea and now Spain, he is racking up the minutes and Maresca has no obvious replacement. For the first half of the season it was Renato Veiga who deputised there, often in the Conference League, but he left in January to pursue a career as a centre-back.
Veiga was left out of Chelsea’s squad for the Club World Cup and is expected to leave this summer. It has seen the pressure on Cucurella continue. If he was to get injured, fall ill, or simply need a rest, there is no readymade option for Maresca to turn to.
Levi Colwill has not been used there, whereas Pochettino was keen to try it in order to add height to the team. Veiga is out, and the only other avenues have been moving Reece James or Malo Gusto to their opposite flank.
At times, the switched full-back trick has worked but it is not a sustainable course of action, especially not with how poor Gusto has been. The Frenchman has gone through a crisis in confidence and has been unable to function properly at right-back, let alone left-back, or any sort of midfield role.
He was caught out at the back post against Flamengo twice. Gusto also had to be hooked at half-time in the Conference League final after a frankly shocking display. Maresca is plugging away with him instead of using Josh Acheampong, but ultimately neither have stopped Cucurella from playing every minute of the opening two group games.
Despite being a tournament which comes off the back of a long season (and Cucurella also went to the final of Euro 2024 last summer, therefore reducing his break 12 months ago) there has been little respite. Maresca has opted to go strong with his teams in America and hasn’t offered many minutes to new players.
Andrey Santos is yet to see the pitch after being among the best midfielders in Ligue 1 last season. Acheampong has had two games on the bench and Dario Essugo only managed a brief cameo against Los Angeles FC (LAFC) last week.
Cucurella, meanwhile, is one of four players yet to be spared even a single moment. It shouldn’t be a surprise. Chelsea have nobody else.
Ishe Samuels-Smith is yet to make the step-up to the senior side but had been among those football.london was initially told would be included in the travelling squad. The left-sided academy defender, who joined from Everton in 2023, has been a standout at Cobham over the past two years but did not make the final group selected.
Chelsea could have picked 35 players but only named 28. In doing so, they left the left-back position exposed. Samuels-Smith has plenty of developing to do and signed a new long-term deal at the club earlier this year but will not get a taste of even semi-competitive adult football before the start of next season.
Cucurella has not showed signs of slowing down or struggling, but he has played a lot of football over the past 18 months. He has made 34 appearances for Chelsea and Spain combined across the first six-and-a-bit months of 2025, with most of those being starts.
Cucurella plays 90 minutes more often than not when at Chelsea and is, as mentioned, coming off the back of a packed 2024 that culminated in a run to the Euros final. The plan to guard against him getting injured or entering the red zone was Veiga. He is out of the picture.
Although it is hard to find players willing to accept a clear backup role, because any new left-back would be behind Cucurella, who joined for £62million in 2023 from Brighton, Chelsea are running a risky game without someone to support him. Unless that turns out to be Samuels-Smith next season, which would raise questions over his non-involvement at the Club World Cup, then it will surely be a new signing.
It’s a good job the window is open for business but Chelsea are yet to be seriously linked to a left-back. The closest in that regard is Jorrel Hato of Ajax.
At 19, he has a similar profile to Samuels-Smith. Hato can play in the middle of defence or at full-back, is left-footed, and is the same age. This sort of added string to his bow makes Hato desirable as there are two ways into the team, which make up for not being first choice in either position.
Hato already has a large bank of senior experience to his name with 111 Ajax appearances. Whether Chelsea push for a deal this summer waits to be seen, but one player who might be hoping they do is Cucurella.
