£62m for Marc Cucurella is good business for Brighton and Chelsea
The summer transfer saga longer running than the Who Killed Lucy Beale storyline is finally at an end. Chelsea have paid £62 million to Brighton & Hove Albion to make Marc Cucurella the most expensive full back in football history.
He is the sixth most expensive defender of all time. And only two Spanish players have ever cost more – Rodri when making his £63 million move from Atletico Madrid to Manchester City in 2019 and Kepa Arrizabalaga who Chelsea forked out £71.6 million for a year earlier.
Those three facts are frankly astonishing. Just 16 summers ago, Brighton had to scrimp and save to spend £8000 on signing Alex Revell from Braintree.
Oh we celebrated, skipping through the streets with faces full of glee at Mark McGhee having actual money to fork out on an actual striker.
To now sell the third most expensive Spaniard of all time and set a world record fee for a full back is another one of those pinch me moments the Albion have delivered with increasing frequency since the Amex Stadium opened in 2011.
Ah yes, the Amex. Shall we talk about its cost in the context of Marc Cucurella, Brighton and Chelsea? Okay. Selling Cucurella means the Albion recouping over two thirds of the £97 million the Amex cost to initially build.
Add the £25 million for Yves Bissouma and £50 million for Ben White and Brighton have paid for the stadium, its expansion in 2012 and part of the training ground through player sales in a little over one year. Phenomenal business.
There might be a lot of football fans out there – especially those plastics who began supporting Manchester City when their oil money arrived – scoffing at the fee for Cucurella.
Part of that from City fans will be jealousy that their club tried to bully Brighton into accepting £30 million. When Tony Bloom would not play ball, City had to save face by not going any higher. Their loss is Chelsea’s gain. And what a gain it is.
Whisper it quietly but having watched Cucurella, his impact and his development over the past 12 months, that £62 million might prove to be a bargain for Chelsea.
Cucurella’s underlying stats in 2021-22 showed him to be the second best attacking full back in the Premier League. They also showed him to be the second best defensively.
No other player appears on both lists. Cucurella is a freak in that he is top class going forward and top class at the other end. You do not pick up allrounder like that for £30 million.
There is more. When Brighton sold Dan Burn followed by Adam Webster and Lewis Dunk being ruled out with injury, Graham Potter began retraining Cucurella to play as a left sided centre back.
It was a position Cucurella had never played in his life – and here he was learning it in the high pressure environment of the Premier League.
Within five months, Cucurella had mastered his new role. Chelsea are not just getting themselves a left wing back for their £62 million. They are getting a left back and a centre back as well. Three players for the price of one.
There is more. As already mentioned, Cucurella’s rate of improvement in a new country where he arrived not speaking the language was phenomenal.
He is only 23. He is only going to get better. And in theory, that progress should be even quicker once he becomes further accustomed to life in England.
Some Brighton fans believe that the way Cucurella went about engineering a move by handing in a transfer request tarnishes his time at Brighton.
That argument is not one you will read here. Would you stay with your current employers out of loyalty if a bigger, more established company offering you the chance of international recognition and awards for your work headhunted you and offered to triple your wages?
Cucurella has done what would be acceptable in virtually any workplace in any industry in the world. Just because Brighton fans love the Albion and would never entertain switching their allegiance, does not mean a bloke from Catalonia with a dream to win the Champions League and play for Spain should not.
The only regret about Marc Cucurella leaving Brighton for Chelsea is that we only got to witness him in an Albion shirt for one season.
One or two more years might have been nice, in which time he would undoubtedly have become one of the most popular and greatest players to pull on the stripes.
It is hard to bestow such honours on Cucurella when his stay was so brief, even if greatest player title is one regularly attached to Vicente.
Losing players so soon after they arrive though is the price of success. Had Brighton finished 15th or below for a fifth successive Premier League season, it is hard to imagine Bloom having to consider offers of £62 million for Cucurella.
If we want the Albion to challenge for the top 10, then we have to get used to the consequences that come with it. Namely, richer clubs looking at the players who helped Brighton overachieve and cherry picking those individuals for themselves.
Brighton have proven with the Marc Cucurella to Chelsea deal that they will only sell when it benefits them. It did not benefit the Albion to allow him to move to the Etihad Stadium for a cut price deal and so Pep Guardiola remains hunting for a left back.
A £62 million transfer to Stamford Bridge however suits every party. Brighton make a profit of more than four times what they paid for Cucurella a year ago when triggering his £15 million Getafe release clause.
In one fell swoop, that wipes out the Albion’s reported 2020-21 losses of £53.4 million. If invested back into the playing budget, it gives the recruitment team a serious war chest with which to strengthen before the transfer window closes.
Whisper it quietly, but it could even be reinvested in that silver bullet striker Albion fans have been dreaming of since promotion to the Premier League. Knowing Brighton then, it will go on another central defender…
Chelsea meanwhile get themselves a player capable of covering three positions and comfortable in Thomas Tuchel’s favourite back three system. If Cucurella kicks on and becomes an even better player, there is potential resale value there too.
Cucurella has the chance to win trophies and make the breakthrough to the full Spain squad. Playing at Stamford Bridge is also a better stage to attract the attentions of Barcelona, who Cucurella ultimately dreams of playing for.
Adiós Marc. Now the biggest question. What to do with 1000 curly haired black wigs…
