{"id":294893,"date":"2023-10-23T04:24:18","date_gmt":"2023-10-23T04:24:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports-life-news.com\/?p=294893"},"modified":"2023-10-23T04:24:18","modified_gmt":"2023-10-23T04:24:18","slug":"chelsea-star-cucurella-now-pochettino-favourite-after-giving-exit-green-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports-life-news.com\/soccer\/chelsea-star-cucurella-now-pochettino-favourite-after-giving-exit-green-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea star Cucurella now Pochettino favourite after giving exit ‘green light’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chelsea 2-2 Arsenal – Review<\/h3>\n

Chelsea is not the easiest club for players to resurrect their careers as patience usually wears thin, but Mauricio Pochettino’s management of Marc Cucurella proves Stamford Bridge is quickly becoming a place for redemption. Once jeered by the fans as the club languished in the bottom half of the table, the defender embodied everything about Pochettino’s ‘new Chelsea’ in the 2-2 draw against Arsenal on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Cucurella arrived at Stamford Bridge in a \u00a362million deal from Brighton as one of the first major deals brokered by Todd Boehly. He was then followed to west London by his boss Graham Potter, who succeeded Thomas Tuchel as head coach, but both struggled to make an impression in their first season at Chelsea.<\/p>\n

The Spaniard lost his place in the team to Ben Chilwell and even when trialled in the back three, the 25-year-old failed to reproduce the same performances that caught the eye of Pep Guardiola in his debut season in England back in 2021-22.<\/p>\n

It looked as if he was set to leave the club on loan in the summer transfer window as Chelsea desperately attempted to offload him to Saudi Arabian clubs, but the left-back wasn’t interested. He did, however, reportedly give the ‘green light’ to a loan switch to Manchester United on deadline day, only for the deal to fall through, and United signed Sergio Reguilon instead.<\/p>\n

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Cucurella has had to be patient in waiting for a chance to get minutes under his belt. But after holding crunch talks with Pochettino shortly after the transfer window shut, the Argentinian has found a place for the Barcelona academy product in his team.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter, when the transfer window closed, we were talking in my office,\u201d Pochettino told reporters earlier in October. \u201cWe were really clear about how I see and assess him and I listened to his feelings. Of course, it was a difficult time for him after he arrived from Brighton. It was tough, not only for him, but many, many players. That\u2019s why we need to give confidence and trust in him.”<\/p>\n

The Pochettino factor is already starting to take effect on Cucurella, who has gone from being left out of the squad for the first five matches of the season to becoming a useful member of the squad. His tackles are aggressive and carefully measured and there is a new-found aggression in his game that has resonated with the fans, who are slowly starting to warm to him.<\/p>\n