Atlético Madrid Target Marc Cucurella for Summer Rebuild

Atlético Madrid are gearing up for another heavy summer of spending, the third in as many years, and one problem keeps flashing red on Diego Simeone’s dashboard: left-back.

Matteo Ruggeri arrived from Atalanta last summer with the profile of a long-term solution. He has not played like one. His form has veered too wildly to be trusted in a title-chasing side, and at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano the inconsistency has been glaring. With no senior, natural understudy – beyond academy prospect Julio Díaz – Simeone spent much of the season shuffling David Hancko across to cover the flank, sacrificing balance elsewhere in his back line.

Atlético do not want to live that way again.

Cucurella at the top of Atleti’s list

Sporting director Mateu Alemany has already drawn a thick circle around one name: Marc Cucurella. Inside the club, the Chelsea defender is viewed as the ideal profile to walk straight into the starting role on the left, bringing energy, aggression and top-level experience to a position that has become a weak spot.

Identifying him was the easy part. Signing him will be anything but.

Chelsea, now under the command of former Real Madrid coach Xabi Alonso, hold the cards. The Premier League side are under no pressure to sell, and Alonso has moved quickly to make his position clear. According to MD, he considers Cucurella a key part of his plans at Stamford Bridge and has communicated that he wants the Spaniard to stay.

For Atlético, that is the first major obstacle in a deal that was never going to be straightforward.

Alonso’s stance – and the one variable that could change everything

Nothing will be rubber-stamped until Alonso sits down face to face with Cucurella. Those talks will shape the defender’s summer.

Alonso’s starting point is simple: keep him. He sees a 27-year-old in his prime, comfortable in high-intensity systems, capable of playing both as a traditional full-back and in more hybrid roles. In a Chelsea squad that will inevitably see movement, Cucurella is, for now, in the “important” column.

There is, however, one factor that could flip the script. If Cucurella makes it clear that he wants to return to Spain, Alonso’s stance may have to bend to the player’s will. At this stage, that desire is not publicly known. There has been no declaration, no clear signal that he is pushing for a move.

So Atlético wait. They plan. They probe the market. But the top of their list is occupied by a player whose future will be decided in London, not Madrid.

World Cup first, transfer saga later

Any serious movement is expected to be slow. With Cucurella set to play a significant role for Spain at the World Cup, both clubs and the player himself are likely to park major decisions until after the tournament.

That delay suits Chelsea, who gain time to reassess under Alonso, and it complicates Atlético’s planning, as Simeone pushes for clarity in a position that has already cost him too much tactical compromise.

For now, the outlines of the summer are clear. Atlético want Cucurella. Alonso wants to keep him. The rest hinges on what the defender wants when the World Cup dust settles – and whether his next chapter is written in London blue or Atlético red and white.