Marc Cucurella’s transfer from Chelsea to Manchester United fell through, and Fabrizio Romano has disclosed that Manchester City made a’secret’ offer for him.
The Red Devils felt driven to enter the transfer market for a replacement when Luke Shaw suffered an injury that would keep him out for a significant portion of the first half of the season.
Marc Cucurella of Chelsea was Erik ten Hag’s top choice, and negotiations started out well before falling apart. Although neither the player nor the Blues were in favor of it, the Manchester club insisted on a break provision that would have allowed them to send the Spaniard back to Chelsea in January.
This is what Fabrizio Romano claims doomed the negotiations, but there was more that caused irritation.
What did Romano say?
Romano said in a statement posted to his YouTube channel: “The loan deal for Cucurella from Chelsea to Manchester United was almost done…the two clubs were ready to close the deal for [a] £3 million loan fee.”
“The negotiations ran into a few issues. One of the issues was the break clause, which was rejected by both Chelsea and the player’s side for the loan agreement.
Additionally, Chelsea’s use of Marc Cucurella in the Carabao Cup match angered Manchester United. Why? Cucurella was not permitted to participate in [the] Carabao Cup with Man Utd anymore due to the rules in the event that he joined United from Chelsea, and this made United unhappy because they wanted to use their new left-back also in the Carabao Cup.”
Also disclosed by Romano was the fact that Man City “in a secret way, presented a [loan] proposal for Marc Cucurella” in January 2023. After Cucurella’s contract with Man Utd fell through, Fulham sought to get in on the action, according to the Italian transfer specialist, but the Spaniard never gave that possibility any real thought.
