Chelsea could have ready-made replacements for Marc Cucurella already signed

Valentin Barco and Geovany Quenda are two players who can replace Marc Cucurella at Chelsea next season.

Real Madrid have announced the signing of Cucurella in a deal worth €55million (£47.5m) and €5m (£4.3m) in add-ons.

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The Spain international has penned a six-year deal at the Bernabeu, with his former club Barcelona and Atletico Madrid missing out.

Chelsea have lost one of their key players at the beginning of the summer transfer window, with Jorrel Hato their remaining left-back.

However, Barco is set to join from sister club Strasbourg on a six-year deal, with Quenda also arriving from Sporting.

Amid the departure of Cucurella, talkSPORT’s Ben Jacobs explained how Chelsea may already have two replacements ready for him.

“From Chelsea’s point of view, they feel that Xabi Alonso needs to be embedded to determine if it’s going to be a back three or a back four, a back three being Xabi Alonso’s preferred formation.

“And if so, it’s all about the left wing-back. Chelsea do have Valentin Barco, who is capable of playing in that position, even though he thrives a bit further forwards, and had an excellent season for Strasbourg.

“Geovany Quenda is joining from Sporting too, and he’s capable of being a left wing-back. When Chelsea signed Quenda, they sent him back to Sporting for a season and the determination was he was a left winger.

“Whereas Manchester United wanted Quenda immediately and they said to the player, ‘You’re a left wing-back’. So, that was a point of difference in the pitch and yet, Chelsea won that race.

“Now, it may be that they consider Quenda under Xabi Alonso’s formation as a deeper-lying left wing-back. So effectively, there’s options to fill the void left by Marc Cucurella.

“And yet, I still expect Chelsea to scour the market, and see whether there are any other starting left-backs or left wing-backs available.

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“People will naturally make links with (Alejandro) Grimaldo due to the fact that Xabi Alonso had him at (Bayer) Leverkusen.

“Atletico Madrid are also interested in that particular player, so Chelsea are going to be really busy.”

How did Real Madrid sign Cucurella?

talkSPORT revealed the news of Cucurella’s move to Madrid on Sunday, which came as a surprise amid other interest from Spain.

Atletico were in talks with Chelsea for the 27-year-old and Barcelona, his former academy, were also potential suitors.

However, it’s Real Madrid who have got a deal over the line.

“Cucurella had spoken out about Chelsea’s project, but he had agreed new terms not that long ago, last year,” Jacobs added.

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“But it was a deal, given Cucurella’s age and the price, that suited all parties. Real Madrid moved really quickly, the decision to bid for Cucurella was only made in the last 24 to 48 hours.

“From there, Real knew they had to be fast because Atletico Madrid were also prepared to pounce.

“But, about two days ago, Atleti went to Chelsea and opened talks, and they made it clear that they wanted to pay under €50m.

“So Real have paid the asking price and Jose Mourinho, who drove this deal, has got his man.”

Will Enzo Fernandez join Cucurella at Madrid?

As talkSPORT reported last month, Enzo Fernandez wants to leave Chelsea this summer.

The Blues would prefer to keep the Argentine midfielder, but are open to a sale and would demand a fee of £120m.

Fernandez would welcome a bid from Madrid, having fuelled speculation by revealing he would like to live in the Spanish capital.

“Enzo Fernandez is open to joining Real Madrid,” Jacobs said. “More, in fact, than open, he’s keen, and it’s no secret really that Enzo Fernandez would like that move. His relatively new agent, Javier Pastore, is trying to get Real Madrid to place a bid.

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“And yet Real, who have been busy already in the market, are still deciding if they would like the kind of profile that Enzo Fernandez brings, or if they’re going to go for a deeper-lying midfielder.

“Rodri is another target, Mateus Fernandes is also on Real Madrid’s radar and Manchester United are trying to push ahead with that deal. PSG (Paris Saint-Germain) and Arsenal have also looked in the last few weeks.

“But really, the primary focus for Real Madrid now is going to be on finding a midfielder, and they have to determine whether they’re going to get someone in (Aurelien) Tchouameni’s position.

“Or, a more attack-minded midfielder, bearing in mind that Bernardo Silva has already joined Real Madrid.

“So, Enzo Fernandez is waiting to see whether Real bite, effectively, and if Chelsea are to sell, then they want to do so at a very high price. Not just to break even as far as the book valuation is concerned.

“But Chelsea, as we revealed on talkSPORT, value Enzo Fernandez at £120million, and it remains to be seen whether or not Real Madrid choose to pay that particular amount.

“They haven’t bid as of yet but naturally, if they do hold a genuine interest in the player and want to advance things, they’ve been in talks with Chelsea to close that Cucurella deal.

“So, possibly after the World Cup for that one, we might get more developments on the future of Enzo Fernandez