Real Madrid have confirmed the signing of Marc Cucurella from Chelsea, seemingly ending their pursuit of Arsenal’s Riccardo Calafiori for this summer.
Real Madrid have officially confirmed this morning that they have an agreement with Chelsea to sign Marc Cucurella on a six-year deal lasting to 2032.
David Ornstein had reported for The Athletic on Sunday that Real Madrid and Chelsea had reached an agreement for a fee of €55m (£47.5m) plus another €5m (£4.3m) in add-ons.
Cucurella still had three years left on his Chelsea deal, but he was a very sellable asset, in a summer where Chelsea needed to complete some sales.
With their failure to qualify for European competition and a poor league finish, Chelsea were in a tricky situation financially, and Cucurella completing four years in London meant his book value was low and the potential for accounting profit was high.
As for how this is all relevant to Arsenal (other than a London rival selling a starter), Real Madrid are now far less likely to make a serious move for Riccardo Calafiori this summer.
Guillermo Rai reports for The Athletic that Real Madrid are actually now overstocked at left-back, having Cucurella, Alvaro Carreras, Fran Garcia, and Ferland Mendy.
Far from making another left-back signing, the most likely outcome is seemingly that the Spanish club make a sale in the position, with Garcia the favourite to depart.
Gary Jacob had reported for The Times in recent days that Arsenal were bracing for Real Madrid to step up their interest in Calafiori, with Fabrizio Romano confirming that the club had made direct contact with the player’s camp.
But those initial enquiries never progressed into anything more, and it seems either Calafiori or Arsenal ultimately dissuaded Real Madrid from pursuing the move any further.
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