Chelsea have already handed Xabi Alonso perfect transfer after £51.7m agreement

Marc Cucurella completed a £51.7million move to Real Madrid on Monday morning with Chelsea striking an agreement with Los Blancos over the course of the weekend

While Marc Cucurella's exit was somewhat expected this summer, news of his departure broke seemingly from nowhere on Sunday afternoon.

With the weekend almost as its conclusion, football.london reported that Chelsea had reached an agreement over a £51.7million (£47.4m fixed and £4.3m in add-ons) package with Real Madrid for Cucurella to move to the Santiago Bernabeu. The 27-year-old's move to the Spanish capital was confirmed on Monday morning, with the left-back penning a six-year contract with Los Blancos.

Atletico Madrid had expressed a keen interest in the Spain international and Diego Simeone's side were the front runners for a period of time. Barcelona also contacted Cucurella's representatives over a return to the Camp Nou but Madrid swooped in and stole the Chelsea defender from their rivals.

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The news of Cucurella's departure has seemingly divided the Chelsea supporters. Some are of the view that with three years remaining on his deal, a decision had to be made this summer over his future at Stamford Bridge. Cucurella, though, had no desire to sign a new contract with the west Londoners, instead he informed the club of his intention to leave in the coming months.

Any exit looked set to happen after the World Cup, but sources say Real Madrid pushed hard to secure his signature as soon as possible. Once Cucurella and his camp gave Los Blancos the green light, the Spanish giants did not take long to reach an agreement with Chelsea for his signature.

Some, however, are disappointed Chelsea have sold an experienced player; exactly the type of player the club should be targeting with their slightly tweaked transfer strategy this summer. Keeping an unhappy player in the squad could have been detrimental during Xabi Alonso's debut season - the sort of distraction Liam Rosenior had when Cucurella and Enzo Fernandez came out and delivered those bombshell interviews during the March international break.

Chelsea will be pleased a resolution has been found on the very first day of the 2026 summer transfer window. It gives Alonso and the club's sporting leadership team - consisting of Paul Winstanley, Laurence Stewart, Sam Jewell, Joe Shields and Dave Fallows - time to sit down, reflect and assess what needs to happen at left-back now Cucurella is a Real Madrid player.

Jorrel Hato is rated highly internally at the club, sources say, with the Netherlands international shining during the second half of the 2025/26 campaign. Hato can be used as a central defender as well as at left-back, but could have more of a role in the latter considering Levi Colwill is fit now and Cucurella has departed.

Whether Chelsea go out and sign another left-sided full-back remains to be seen but Alonso does have cover there in the form of a signing brought in before his time at the club. Valentin Barco will arrive from Strasbourg this summer after an impressive season in France.

The 21-year-old can play in various positions, including in the centre of midfield, and can act as a bit of a Swiss army knife under Alonso. What the Spaniard has planned for the Argentina international is unclear at the time of writing, and that might need to be ironed out over the summer when the two meet - likely to be on the club's pre-season tour after the ongoing World Cup.

Having Barco as cover on the left-hand side of defence will be a big plus for Alonso, while Malo Gusto, predominantly a right-back, also has experience on the other side of a back four. Colwill, Reece James and Josh Acheampong have also played left-back before.

Whether Alonso will want an out-and-out left-back will be discussed internally over the course of the summer. If he does, Chelsea's sporting leadership team are likely to back the Spaniard, who will be given more power in the transfer market thanks to his 'manager' title.

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