Since the Premier League season finished, Marc Cucurella has now played over 500 minutes of football. Across five matches for club and country, he has been an ever-present on the field.
That includes the Conference League final, Nations League semi-final and then final, and now both games at the Club World Cup. That is 480 minutes (the Nations League final went to extra time and penalties) without including stoppage time, which takes it beyond the 500 mark.
In the Premier League he almost doubled his minutes from last season under Mauricio Pochettino, when he was initially free to leave to the end of Enzo Maresca’s first year. He has gone from being widely ridiculed to now rated among the best in his position.
There are defensive weaknesses to his game which Maresca aims to hide whilst exploiting his use of space in the attacking third, as well as an uncanny ability to arrive in the box to score at crucial moments, but there can be no denying how much things have turned in his favour since the start of 2024.
His status as one of the key players in this squad is shown by the fact that only three others played more league minutes last season, and they were Moises Caicedo (who started every single game), Cole Palmer (the obvious fulcrum), and Levi Colwill (Maresca’s first choice centre-back).
Cucurella played more than Enzo Fernandez, for example, and only missed two matches. Both were through suspension. Maresca has made him a versatile and central part to his varying team structure.
Be it playing in an inverted midfield role, pushing forward into attacking midfield, or as the wide place holder against low-blocks, there has always been somewhere for Cucurella to operate.
The FIFA Club World Cup will see 32 of the world’s best club teams including Man City, Chelsea, Real Madrid, PSG and Bayern Munich play across 63 games from June 14-July 13.
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