‘When Real come for you it’s very difficult to say no’: Cucurella explains Chelsea exit

• Full-back moving back to Spain in £52m deal

• Player reveals he had telephone call with Mourinho

Marc Cucurella has admitted that he had not expected to leave Chelsea and that his £52m signing for Real Madrid was done in a day and a half. The Spain left-back also defended himself against the backlash from Barcelona fans, insisting that although he was born and raised in Catalonia and joined the Barça academy aged 14, he could not turn down Real Madrid. “I am very happy,” the 27-year-old said – if maybe not as happy as his wife, Claudia, whose entire family are Madrid supporters.

“It was all very fast,” Cucurella said from Spain’s training base in Chattanooga, Tennessee. “I got a phone call one morning. My people told me the two clubs had the terms mostly agreed and that I had to decide if I wanted to go there. I had no doubts. It is a big step for me, very important in my career. It all happened in roughly a day and a half. For me, that was the best thing, so it could be all done and I could keep my focus on the World Cup.”