Marc Cucurella

Marc Cucurella Saseta (born 22 July 1998) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a wide midfielder or left-back for Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion and the Spain national team.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Cucurella and the second or maternal family name is Saseta.
Marc Cucurella
Cucurella with Getafe in 2019
Personal information
Full name Marc Cucurella Saseta[1]
Date of birth (1998-07-22) 22 July 1998[2]
Place of birth Alella, Spain
Height 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)
Position(s) Wide midfielder, left-back and center back
Club information
Current team
 Brighton & Hove Albion
Number 3
Youth career
2006–2012 Espanyol
2012–2017 Barcelona
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2016–2019 Barcelona B 48 (1)
2017–2020 Barcelona 0 (0)
2018–2019 → Eibar (loan) 31 (1)
2019–2020 → Getafe (loan) 37 (1)
2020–2021 Getafe 38 (3)
2021– Brighton & Hove Albion 32 (0)
National team‡
2014 Spain U16 3 (0)
2014–2015 Spain U17 16 (2)
2016 Spain U18 2 (0)
2016–2017 Spain U19 6 (0)
2016 Spain U20 6 (0)
2019–2021 Spain U21 10 (1)
2021 Spain U23 6 (0)
2021– Spain 1 (0)
2019– Catalonia 1 (1)
Honours
Men's football
Representing  Spain
Olympic Games
2020Team
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18:07, 30 April 2022
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 7 August 2021 (UTC)

Club career

Barcelona

Born in Alella, Barcelona, Catalonia, Cucurella started playing futsal in FS Alella before joining RCD Espanyol's youth teams in 2006;[3] in 2012, he moved to FC Barcelona.[4] On 26 November 2016, while still a junior, he made his senior debut with the reserves by starting in a 4–0 Segunda División B home routing of CE L'Hospitalet.[5]

Cucurella contributed with 17 appearances for the side, achieving promotion to Segunda División in the play-offs. On 7 July 2017, he renewed his contract until 2021, with a €12 million clause.[6] He made his professional debut on 1 September, starting in a 2–2 away draw against Granada CF.

Cucurella made his first team debut on 24 October 2017, coming on as a late substitute for Lucas Digne in a 3–0 Copa del Rey away win against Real Murcia.[7] He scored his first senior goal for Barça B the following 17 March, scoring the only goal of the game in a 1–0 home win against Lorca FC.

On 31 August 2018, Cucurella was loaned to fellow La Liga side SD Eibar, for one year with a €2 million buyout clause.[8] At the end of his loan, Eibar exercised Cucurella's clause, making him a permanent player for the Basque team; along with the transfer, Barcelona added a €4 million buyback option.[9]

Getafe

On 16 July 2019, after just sixteen days as a permanent Eibar player, Barcelona triggered Cucurella's €4 million buyback clause,[10] only to loan him out to Getafe CF two days later for the incoming season, with an option to buy for €6 million and 40% of the rights remaining to Barça.[11]

On 3 March 2020, Getafe triggered his option to buy for €6 million, no longer connecting him to Barcelona.[12] The club fully exercised his option to buy on 30 June.[13]

Brighton & Hove Albion

On 31 August 2021, Cucurella joined Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion on a five-year contract.[14] He made his debut for The Seagulls on the 11 September, starting and playing 82 minutes before being substituted in the eventual 1–0 away win over Brentford.[15] Eight days later, Cucurella made his home debut, playing the whole match of the 2–1 victory over Leicester City.[16] His chipped cross set up Danny Welbeck's 90+1st minute headed equaliser, finishing 1–1 away at Chelsea on 29 December.[17]

International career

He was called up to the senior Spain squad in November 2020.[18]

Due to the isolation of some national team players following the positive COVID-19 test of Sergio Busquets, Spain's under-21 squad were called up for the international friendly against Lithuania on 8 June 2021.[19] Cucurella made his senior debut in the match as Spain won 4–0.[20]

Cucurella was part of the Spain U23 side that won the silver medal at the 2020 Olympic Games.[21]

Career statistics

Club
As of match played 30 April 2022[22]
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Europe Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Barcelona B 2016–17 Segunda División B 110———6[lower-alpha 1]0170
2017–18 Segunda División 371————371
Total 481———60541
Barcelona 2017–18 La Liga 0010—00—10
Eibar (loan) 2018–19 La Liga 31121—00—332
Getafe (loan) 2019–20 La Liga 37110—7[lower-alpha 2]0—451
Getafe 2020–21 La Liga 37320———393
2021–22 La Liga 1000———10
Total 75430—70—854
Brighton & Hove Albion 2021–22 Premier League 3202010——350
Career total 1866811070602087
  1. Appearances in Segunda División B play-offs
  2. Appearances in UEFA Europa League

International
As of match played 8 June 2021
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Spain 202110
Total10

Honours

Spain U23

References
  1. "Acta del Partido celebrado el 12 de mayo de 2018, en Gijón" [Minutes of the Match held on 12 May 2018, in Gijón] (in Spanish). Royal Spanish Football Federation. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  2. "Squad List: Men's Olympic Football Tournament Tokyo 2020: Spain (ESP)" (PDF). FIFA. 22 July 2021. p. 16. Retrieved 28 August 2021.
  3. "Marc Cucurella Saseta" (in Catalan). Futbol Base Català. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  4. "Marc Cucurella, el Puyol de la cantera" [Marc Cucurella, the Puyol from the youth setup] (in Spanish). Mundo Deportivo. 14 December 2013. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  5. "4–0: el Barça B golea al Hospitalet y sigue líder" [4–0: Barça B thrash Hospitalet and remain leader] (in Spanish). Mundo Deportivo. 26 November 2016. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  6. "Marc Cucurella signs new Barcelona deal with €12 million clause". ESPN FC. 7 July 2017. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  7. "Barcelona B teamer Jose Arnaiz thrilled with goal in 'dream' first-team debut". ESPN FC. 24 October 2017. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  8. "Acord amb la SD Eibar per a la cessió de Cucurella" [Agrement with SD Eibar for the loan of Cucurella] (in Catalan). FC Barcelona. 31 August 2018. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  9. "El Eibar ejerce la claúsula de compra de Marc Cucurella" [Eibar triggers Marc Cucurella's buyout clause] (in Spanish). AS. 27 May 2019.
  10. "Barcelona Buy Back Cucurella From Eibar". beIN Sports. 16 July 2019.
  11. "Agreement with Getafe for the loan of Marc Cucurella". FC Barcelona. 18 July 2019. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
  12. Getafe exercise option to purchase Cucurella for six million euros MARCA. 3 March 2020. Retrieved 27 April 2020
  13. "Getafe exercise option to purchase Marc Cucurella". FC Barcelona. 30 June 2020. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
  14. "Marc Cucurella joins from Getafe". Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. 31 August 2021. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
  15. "Brentford 0-1 Brighton: Leandro Trossard scores last-minute winner for Seagulls - BBC Sport". BBC Sport. 11 September 2021. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
  16. "Brighton & Hove Albion 2-1 Leicester City: Seagulls hold off late pressure to go third - BBC Sport". BBC Sport. 19 September 2021. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  17. "Chelsea 1-1 Brighton & Hove Albion: Danny Welbeck heads stoppage-time equaliser for Seagulls - BBC Sport". BBC Sport. 29 December 2021. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
  18. "Switzerland 1-1 Spain". BBC. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  19. "Oficial | Lista de convocados para el encuentro ante Lituania" [Official | Squad list for the match against Lithuania]. Royal Spanish Football Federation (in Spanish). 6 June 2021. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  20. "Spain youngsters impress in Lithuania rout". MARCA. 8 June 2021. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  21. "Brazil beat Spain in extra-time for back-to-back men's football gold". Olympics. 7 August 2021. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  22. "Cucurella". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 16 December 2021.
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