With injuries to Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia, Manchester United were eager to sign a left-back before the closing of the summer transfer window. The Red Devils ultimately landed on signing Spurs fullback Sergio Reguilon on loan for the season. Before that, though, United had their sights set on bringing in out-of-favour Marc Cucurella from Chelsea. As The Top Flight had covered at the time, a deal looked close between Chelsea and Manchester United, but ultimately, things fell through. Now, transfer journalist Fabrizio Romano has revealed that behind-the-scenes negotiations between the clubs which saw the deal collapse.
Via his YouTube channel, Fabrizio Romano states that Chelsea and United were close to completing a loan deal for Marc Cucurella for a loan fee of £3m. Romano believes that the biggest caveat that saw the deal collapse is that both Chelsea and Cucurella did not want to have the transfer include a “break-clause.” Essentially, Manchester United would have held the ability to terminate the loan in January once Shaw and Malacia both returned from injury. United’s eagerness to consider Cucurella a stop-gap option ultimately saw the deal dissipate.
Chelsea cup-tying Cucurella in the EFL Cup in a match against AFC Wimbledon annoyed Manchester United as they would have liked to use the player in the cup competition. Both of these reasons contributed to the eventual transfer fallout.
Furthermore, Fabrizio Romano has revealed that Cucurella had personally rejected loan offers over the course of the transfer window from RB Leipzig, Sevilla, Atletico Madrid and Real Sociedad. Interestingly, Romano also confirmed a bit of a shocking rumour. Manchester City, during the winter transfer window of 2023, supposedly made a loan offer for Cucurella to Chelsea that included an option to buy.
The last news surrounding Marc Cucurella’s future at Chelsea is that Fulham also approached the Blues on this past deadline day after the player’s move to Manchester United collapsed. Despite all the interest, the Spaniard is now set to stay at Chelsea, which has had a drag-on effect on fullback Ian Maatsen, who has yet to sign a new contract at the club.