Marc Cucurella

Porque

Senior Member
Supply and demand. Definitely not worth it, but that's the scarcity of the current fullback market and Cucu, a young player with upside, proved himself last season at Brighton.

To be fair to the old board, they got it wrong but they tried something with Miranda who they believed had the higher upside. Prioritized him over Cucu and tried to loan him to BuLi then Betis. Didn't work out (wrong BuLi team) but there was a method.

Didn't help that we had a highly paid fairweather coach at the time in Valverde, who went with the flow and had no backbone. Maybe if we had a Xavi (not forgetting the strength of the squad at that point was in the players hands and not the coaching staffs) then he would have stood up for someone like Cucu and given him chances.
 

khaled_a_d

Senior Member
I honestly think he's a 30ME player... maybe 40ME at best.

I haven't followed him much recently, but watched some videos and he looks pretty much like the same player he was in Spain. His overall quality just doesn't strike me as top-class.

He played 10 games as LCB and from what I hear he was hood there.
That is a great development from a player like him tbh
 

feggydinho

Senior Member
Supply and demand. Definitely not worth it, but that's the scarcity of the current fullback market and Cucu, a young player with upside, proved himself last season at Brighton.

To be fair to the old board, they got it wrong but they tried something with Miranda who they believed had the higher upside. Prioritized him over Cucu and tried to loan him to BuLi then Betis. Didn't work out (wrong BuLi team) but there was a method.

Didn't help that we had a highly paid fairweather coach at the time in Valverde, who went with the flow and had no backbone. Maybe if we had a Xavi (not forgetting the strength of the squad at that point was in the players hands and not the coaching staffs) then he would have stood up for someone like Cucu and given him chances.

It's not even about Xavi, Alba would still play over Cucu for Spain. He creates far more chances attacking wise.
 

Porque

Senior Member
It's not even about Xavi, Alba would still play over Cucu for Spain. He creates far more chances attacking wise.

I'd imagine if we had someone on the books in a problem position for depth like Cucu that Xavi would consider them if impressed. He has done that with Pjanic and was strong about maintaining Dembele.
 

ajnotkeith

Senior Member
Another issue with our sales technique is we never sell when stock is high. We always wait for players to get exposed like [MENTION=11668]khaled_a_d[/MENTION] said and then sell them, by which point they aren't worth anything anymore. We don't anticipate our players stock well and don't cut players loose at the right time.

For example Puig. No coach has ever rated him and I assume those in the club and the technical staff knew he was never going to become an important player, but instead of selling him seasons ago when he had hype around him, we sell him now after his stock is at an all time low, and don't get a single euro.

Mingueza same. After a good season last year there was rumours teams like Dortmund wanted him but Koeman blocked the exit. Fast forward and he gets sold to Celta for free after a bad season.

And then more generally, for example with the amigos massive contracts, we gave huge contracts to them through their 30s without knowing if they would maintain their level or not. Now they are washed up and we have a huge problem on the books.
 

DonAK

President of FC Barcelona
Sometimes it's also a case of the player not wanting to leave.

If what Riqui is saying is true which should be taken with a grain of salt.....he had offers from teams like Milan who may have paid us a bit of money for him, but he rejected those moves.
 

iniestaGOAT

Senior Member
Another issue with our sales technique is we never sell when stock is high. We always wait for players to get exposed like [MENTION=11668]khaled_a_d[/MENTION] said and then sell them, by which point they aren't worth anything anymore. We don't anticipate our players stock well and don't cut players loose at the right time.

For example Puig. No coach has ever rated him and I assume those in the club and the technical staff knew he was never going to become an important player, but instead of selling him seasons ago when he had hype around him, we sell him now after his stock is at an all time low, and don't get a single euro.

Mingueza same. After a good season last year there was rumours teams like Dortmund wanted him but Koeman blocked the exit. Fast forward and he gets sold to Celta for free after a bad season.

And then more generally, for example with the amigos massive contracts, we gave huge contracts to them through their 30s without knowing if they would maintain their level or not. Now they are washed up and we have a huge problem on the books.


You mean we should act like a small team like Chelsea send a 15 players out on loan and then sell them
 

ajnotkeith

Senior Member
Sometimes it's also a case of the player not wanting to leave.

If what Riqui is saying is true which should be taken with a grain of salt.....he had offers from teams like Milan who may have paid us a bit of money for him, but he rejected those moves.

Several seasons ago probably but definitely not this year.

LA didn't even give him a DP spot, so he won't be making that much money there. If he's gone to MLS without a big salary offer. he must have really lacked options.
 

DonAK

President of FC Barcelona
Several seasons ago probably but definitely not this year.

LA didn't even give him a DP spot, so he won't be making that much money there. If he's gone to MLS without a big salary offer. he must have really lacked options.

Oh yeah, I don't mean this year. Not sure if you've listened to those leaked tapes but sounds like he had these offers two years ago maybe. Now he's shit and everyone knows.

I don't disagree with your point in general about selling too late, but sometimes the players have not wanted to leave and the club's been okay letting them stick around in the end. Need to be a bit more ruthless sometimes so let's see if Alemany, Cruyff and Laporta will be.
 

malvolio

Senior Member
Cucurella is worth 20M max. Chelsea are crazy.

EL level talent is bought for world class fullback money.
 

Catta

Senior Member
This transfer doesn't make any sense for Chelsea for that price. They already have Chilwell, who plays the same position and who was also bought for huge money.
 

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