\n<\/p>\n
Chelsea’s incoming manager, Xabi Alonso, has reportedly contacted Marc Cucurella several times in recent weeks. The former Leverkusen boss wants his compatriot in his future squad, but, according to <\/span>The Athletic<\/em><\/i>he knows the defender wishes to leave.<\/span><\/p>\n Whether Barcelona pursue him depends on whether they first sell a centre-back, as that would free up the funds to bring back the former youth product. For now, the situation remains fluid.<\/span><\/p>\n Alejandro Balde, whose progress has stalled, would reportedly not block a move if he chose to leave. Jules Kound\u00e9 could also depart, though the French World Cup winner recently stated that he still sees his future at the club. Joao Cancelo, on loan from Al-Hilal for the past six months, is expected to be signed permanently if possible.<\/span><\/p>\n Even if that happens, Barca would still face stiff competition. According to <\/span>The Athletic<\/em><\/i>Atl\u00e9tico Madrid are also leading the chase for the left-footed player. For the Colchoneros, who are prioritising the search for a new left-back this summer, Cucurella is said to be right at the top of their wish list, and talks have apparently already taken place. Unlike Bar\u00e7a, Atl\u00e9tico would not first have to sell players to make a serious move for Cucurella.<\/span><\/p>\n Real Madrid are also loosely mentioned as interested parties, while Manchester City complete the list of high-profile suitors. As is well known, former Chelsea coach Maresca is expected to succeed Pep Guardiola at the Sky Blues, a move that could strengthen City’s links to Cucurella.<\/span><\/p>\n Before his club future is decided, Cucurella is focusing on the World Cup, where European champions Spain are among the favourites for the title. He has made 23 international appearances, was a regular at the European Championship two years ago and is likely to play a key role in the World Cup finals, which begin on 11 June. In the build-up to the tournament, he tipped Ecuador\u2014Germany’s group opponents\u2014as a dark horse for the title. Spain will face Uruguay, Saudi Arabia and Cape Verde in the group stage.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Chelsea’s incoming manager, Xabi Alonso, has reportedly contacted Marc Cucurella several times in recent weeks. The former Leverkusen boss wants…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1288,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racingsport.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racingsport.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racingsport.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racingsport.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racingsport.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racingsport.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racingsport.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racingsport.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racingsport.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racingsport.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}