Marc Cucurella has confirmed his intention to stay at Chelsea - and he wants Moises Caicedo to join him.
The 24-year-old left-back has been linked with a move away from west London just a year on from his £62million move from Brighton last summer.
Cucurella struggled in a turbulent season last year and there is competition for places with Ian Maatsen returning from a loan spell at Burnley to join Ben Chilwell and Lewis Hall in the squad.
Speaking ahead of Mauricio Pochettino’s first match against Wrexham in the United States, Cucurella confirmed his desire to remain a Chelsea player: “Yes, for sure I want to stay at Chelsea. I am very happy here.
“It wasn’t an easy season and it was difficult for all the players, we needed time to adapt. You arrive at a big club, you need time to adapt, the results don’t arrive, you feel more pressure and, of course, we are footballer players but we are normal people as well.
“We have problems in our personal lives and people need to understand this as well. This is part of life and these things can improve in the future. I am very happy, I have a lot of energy and I am happy to stay here and do my best for this team and club.”
Chelsea have seen a £70m bid rejected by Brighton for midfielder Caicedo, who played alongside Cucurella on the south coast.
Cucurella hopes to see his old teammate join him at Chelsea next season, adding: “I’ve read in the media that he wants to come here a lot of times!
“I have a good relationship with him. He is a top player and if he came here I think we would have a top midfielder for a long time.”
Pochettino, meanwhile, has been grilling his young squad during a brutal first two weeks at Cobham training centre.
Cucurella is happy to see his colleagues rebuild their fitness after being outrun by rivals during a terrible season, but admits it has been gruelling. He said: “For sure, the first weeks were not easy! We worked a lot and ran a lot.
“We had double sessions on a lot of days. At the time, I was not happy but now when I think [about it] I see I spent a good time. You see your team mates suffer and have pain but it helps create good relationships and it moves onto the pitch.
“I think this is important because the Premier League is very hard and we need to improve physically. We need to improve our physicality.
“If you don’t have this then it is impossible to win at this level. We obviously have the quality to play but I didn’t think last season we had the same level. We tried to do our best but we didn’t arrive at the best level. The most important thing and first step is to stay fit and then start to play well.”
