Every good Chelsea team of the Premier League era has needed an irritant. A nuisance. Someone who gets under the skins of opposition players and fans alike.
Those who have thrived in the role include Dennis Wise, John Terry, Ashley Cole, Diego Costa and Antonio Rudiger. All were great players at their respective positions, which made them a target for abuse from the opposition-supporting sections of the stands anyway, but they also seemed to thrive having been cast as Chelsea’s pantomime villain.
It has taken nearly a couple of years since he joined from Brighton in a transfer which could rise the fee rise to over £60million ($77m), but Marc Cucurella has now assumed the mantle those predecessors left behind — and seems to be absolutely loving it.
To become this kind of player, it helps if you have something that makes you stand out. For example, Wise may have been small in size and portrayed himself as the ‘cheeky chappy’ but was perfectly capable of aiming a painful little dig at an opponent’s body while wearing an innocent smile at the same time.
Terry and Cole, by their mere presence, were enough to create a hostile atmosphere. Their off-field issues ensured they were never going to be the most popular anywhere not called Stamford Bridge. The fact they were both excellent defenders who loved a challenge meant games were never dull when they were involved either.
Costa and Rudiger did not try to hide what they were up to, getting involved in some extraordinary exchanges with opponents. Striker Costa seemed to go out of his way to rile up whoever was marking him. The way he got Gabriel Paulista sent off in a game against Arsenal in 2016 was a masterclass in s***housery.
Football purists tutted in disgust at such behaviour, but chants of “Diego, Diego” reverberated around Chelsea’s stadium as if he had just scored a goal. Similarly, whenever centre-back Rudiger got involved in some spat or produced an almost cartoon-like tackle to win a 50-50, you would hear cries of “Rudi, Rudi!”
No matter what the game, these players always seemed to take centre stage, to be constantly in the picture. Cucurella is of a similar ilk. His flamboyant haircut, those long, dark curls seen bouncing away every time a TV camera zooms in on him, automatically makes the Spain international stand out from the rest. But for over a year at Chelsea after his arrival, he was not held in great regard by the fans, while opposing supporters saw him more as an example of the new Todd Boehly-Clearlake consortium getting a transfer wrong.
Indeed, former Chelsea head coach Graham Potter admitted this weekend that, such were Cucurella’s struggles to win over the fanbase, it did influence his selection decisions on occasion during his time in charge between September 2022 and the following April.
Potter, who had also managed the Spaniard at Brighton in 2021-22, said on Sky Sports: “He had to take some stick at Stamford Bridge; it was quite hostile at times. There was a period of time when if results weren’t going so well… you want to do as much as you can to have the crowd with you, but it was obvious that there was a real dislike for Marc here. It goes into your thinking about whether to put him in.”
Cucurella’s man of the match display against Arsenal on Sunday just emphasised how much that has all become a distant memory.
The 25-year-old was superb as he kept Bukayo Saka relatively subdued. It’s not the first time he has managed to do that in recent months, having also got the better of him when Spain defeated England in the final of Euro 2024 back in July.
But even when he was not winning a duel or making a forward run during the Arsenal game, you could see Cucurella trying to have an impact on proceedings in other, more cynical, ways.
Just some examples of the gamesmanship on display include talking to the referee over what seemed to be every decision, complaining to the assistant referees on the touchline, delaying throw-ins and dropping the ball close (but not close enough) for Arsenal to restart the game quickly from a set piece. Each time something was going on, Cucurella seemed to be there, chirping away.
The annoyance his behaviour causes is particularly noticeable at away matches, where he soon becomes targeted for booing. Even at Bournemouth, whose fans do not exactly have a reputation for getting too animated, the crowd got rather irate with him during their loss to Chelsea in September.
And how their counterparts at Stamford Bridge appreciate his efforts now.
It has helped that, since returning from an ankle operation in March, Cucurella has started 20 of Chelsea’s 23 Premier League games. The only time he has not featured at all in that time is when he was suspended for the trip to Liverpool last month after picking up five bookings.
Speaking to The Athletic earlier this year, Cucurella said: “It’s been hard to turn the tables. I’ve worked very hard. I’ve suffered a lot for my family too. That’s been the worst thing. I was a bit scared, in the moments I was being criticised, that when going for a walk in the city with my family, someone would insult us. It’s never happened in a bad way but I was a bit wary of that. That’s what made me worry the most.
“I was working with a psychologist for a while. It helped me a lot to understand my job. Confidence is the most important thing. You miss it when you struggle, but it flows when you thrive. I’ve worked a lot on this, to stabilise those moments.”
His consistency is one of the reasons why Champions League winner Ben Chilwell’s services are no longer required at Chelsea. Unlike 12 months ago, the fans want to see Cucurella’s name on the teamsheet.
He is playing well but is also playing with an edge Wise and company would be proud of.
(Top photo: Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images)
