Right before the Spanish national team begins their World Cup and, for the first time ever, without any player from Real Madrid (neither Huijsen, Carvajal, or Asencio made it to Luis de la Fuente's team), we have the news that Marc Cucurella will join los Blancos next season, as an expressed request from coach José Mourinho.
The shock move has been reported by Fabrizio Romano on Sunday afternoon as an exclusive story, and reports that Real Madrid will join for four six years (four according to AS), with the Spanish club paying Chelsea 60 million euros, £47.5m for the left-back.
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The deal is not closed yet, only verbal agreement between all parties, with Cucurella agreeing to join Real Madrid after World Cup. According to AS, his desire was to leave Chelsea after the disappointing season (the Premier League giants did not qualify for any European competition). Like Bernardo Silva, Cucurella was previously linked to FC Barcelona and Atlético de Madrid, but Real Madrid's new coach Mourinho expressed his interest in the player (especially after Josko Gvardiol, also on Real Madrid's radar, reportedly agreed to a new deal with Manchester City), and the club fulfilled his desire.
This would mark the fourth signing by Real Madrid this summer: defenders Ibrahima Konaté and Denzel Dumfries were reported last week, before the club's elections, and now they have added Cucurella as well as former Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva.
Cucurella, 27 years old, would be one of the rare cases of a product of FC Barcelona's academy who ends up playing for Real Madrid. Since 2024, he has been a fixed presence in Spain, winning UEFA Euro 2024 and now returning for World Cup 2026. Spain makes their debut against Cape Verde on Monday at 18:00 CEST, 17:00 BST.