Marc Cucurella says he expected teammate's success even before his Chelsea transfer
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Marc Cucurella claimed he always expected Chelsea teammate Moises Caicedo to succeed back when they were at Brighton.
Caicedo has arguably been Chelsea's best performer since the start of the season, and it is a big blow to the team that he has to serve a three-match suspension for his red card against Arsenal.
The midfielder's ability to screen the defence and win the ball back for his team has proved invaluable to Enzo Maresca's plans.
His absence likely played a big part in Chelsea's two disappointing results against Leeds United and Bournemouth as well.
Cucurella, who spent some time with Caicedo at Brighton, spoke very highly of the Ecuador international in his latest CFC Unlocked interview.
"I remember that when I arrived at Brighton, he was on loan in Belgium," the Spain international told Chelsea's in-house media team when speaking about Caicedo.
"And we had the same English teacher.
"I remember that he came back in January (2022), and we started to train together.
"When he played his first game, he was very good. He was very young, but you could see that he had different skills, his tackling, how his brain worked, very fast, and he always found the spare man.
"I've always loved his style (of play)."
Cucurella joined Chelsea earlier in the summer of 2022, before Caicedo followed suit the following year.
Given that Chelsea reportedly spent £100m for Caicedo, it is clear that Cucurella was not the only one to notice the midfielder's high ceiling from early on.
Unfortunately for Chelsea, they will have to continue to plan without Caicedo for another game, Saturday's home match against Everton, which will be the last of his suspension.
Gerry Crisandy is a freelance writer who has covered Chelsea for many years. His work has been published on The Chelsea Chronicle and Pride of London. He grew up idolising Michael Ballack and is a firm believer in expected goals.