1 hour ago, Womble said:

Rumour going around that they only bought him so they could have a RM in the Spanish squad for the WC ....😄

Must admit I hadn't realised that Real Madrid didn't have single player in the Spanish squad ! Until now, anyway LOL

Cucurella wouldn't have been in my priority list of players to sell but longer terms he isn't good enough if we ever have any aspirations to compete for the biggest trophies in the next 5 years so it would have been daft to turn down an offer of that magnitude when he clearly wants to leave.

Was never good enough as a defender but there were/are far worse attitudes than his in the squad. I wish him well playing for Jose. Little surprised Jose wanted him to be honest.

29 minutes ago, loz said:

Cucurella wouldn't have been in my priority list of players to sell but longer terms he isn't good enough if we ever have any aspirations to compete for the biggest trophies in the next 5 years so it would have been daft to turn down an offer of that magnitude when he clearly wants to leave.

Was never good enough as a defender but there were/are far worse attitudes than his in the squad. I wish him well playing for Jose. Little surprised Jose wanted him to be honest.

Very fair comment 👏

I think Cucu was at his best under Maresca, the "inverted fullback" role was ideal to mask his weaknesses, but now he's reverted back to his pre-Maresca level. His head was apparently already elsewhere, and the transfer fee is more than fair, so this seems like a good outcome for both player and club.

I will miss his sh*thousery though, he was world class at that. The rest of this team, with the obvious exception of Delap (who should be plying his "dark arts" in the pub leagues, or in prison), are are a bit too "nice" for my liking.

He had a rough start but credit to him, he turned it around and has been fantastic.

We will miss him. Hopefully it is just personal reasons due to his son that he wants to leave.

Bit of a cult hero I would say..

On 15/06/2026 at 08:41, dermott said:

Barco is 2' 7".

5ft 7"
Which is little - BUT he is a GINGER

On 15/06/2026 at 13:58, GarnachoCheese said:

£51.8m. Makes it the 4th most expensive left back signing in history.

That record is irrelevant, he's rated by many, quite versatile and still at 27 years old so got resale value plus multiple rich clubs like madrid, man city, barca were vying for him. Accepting such offer this early in the windows market thus forfeiting genuine potential bidding war is a smart approach taken by the board in your view?

Under the situation I mentioned it's pretty basic to let the bidding war manifested and get the most out of this deal, it's not like there is no time left, the window is still super long.

1 hour ago, BolaBall said:

That record is irrelevant, he's rated by many, quite versatile and still at 27 years old so got resale value plus multiple rich clubs like madrid, man city, barca were vying for him. Accepting such offer this early in the windows market thus forfeiting genuine potential bidding war is a smart approach taken by the board in your view?

Under the situation I mentioned it's pretty basic to let the bidding war manifested and get the most out of this deal, it's not like there is no time left, the window is still super long.

Its relevant when you compare his value to what other LB's go for in the market. We got a good deal for him. You're not going to get £80M for a pretty limited full back.

30 minutes ago, GarnachoCheese said:

Its relevant when you compare his value to what other LB's go for in the market. We got a good deal for him. You're not going to get £80M for a pretty limited full back.

Furthermore, he wanted to return to Spain. A lot, I suspect, due to his autistic son. The market was Spanish alone.

My issue is he’s our most experienced player.

I wish him well though and liked him for the most part.

Madrid wouldn’t be my choice though as I can see them imploding under Jose this time.

And I’d be worried if my name was Trent Alexander Arnold. Can’t see him being a pick for Jose. City would probably take him and scupper any potential move for Gusto from them.

I think the club did the right thing getting the deal done early. We don’t want players reporting for pre season who are aggravating for moves. It was a fair price for a player who wanted to go home and we have plenty of time to sort out a replacement should we want to.

I wish we would sell our surplus players instead of first teamers obviously but under the circumstances I can understand this one.

Cucurella, funny hair, gone, 50 million in the transfer kitty, not a club legend. Next...

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by OTL