Pep Chavarria: Chelsea’s Marc Cucurella Replacement Arrives With Intriguing Promise

Chelsea have announced the arrival of left back Pep Chavarría, who has swiftly offered hope of filling the void created by Marc Cucurella’s summer exit which isn’t quite reflected in his statistics.

Real Madrid’s capture of Cucurella during the World Cup not only robbed Chelsea of the roster’s best hair, but one of its most potent attacking threats. Only two players could better the buccaneering fullback for assists or chances created in the Premier League last season, as the division struggled to contain the blur of limbs and curls down the left flank.

Chavarría can’t rival Cucurella’s unique look, but the former Rayo Vallecano fullback is confident he can deliver a similar threat going forward.

“As a player, I love to attack, defend, box-to-box and I have a lot of intensity,” the 28-year-old told Chelsea’s in-house media team after he signed a five-year contract on Wednesday. “I have a lot of energy on the pitch. They are my biggest abilities. I have played in Spain all my life, and for me the Premier League is the best league in the world right now, with a lot of quality and intensity. I think that it’s the best league for me.”

Rayo were not as reliant on Chavarría for chance creation as Chelsea’s Cucurella dependency. The hard-running fullback offered a steady stream of service in the final third chiefly through crosses—few teams got the ball into the box from the flanks as readily as the beaten Conference League finalists. This has not been a regular avenue of interest for Chelsea recently—almost half the Premier League crossed the ball more often than the west London outfit last term—but that approach could change under Xabi Alonso.

Stat (2025–26 League)	Marc Cucurella	Pep Chavarría (per 90)
Appearances	34	33
Minutes	2,710	2,681
Assists	4 (0.13)	2 (0.07)
Chances Created	39 (1.3)	27 (0.9)
Crosses Attempted	43 (1.4)	97 (3.3)

Stats via Opta.

New Blues boss Alonso is credited as the driving force behind this transfer for his compatriot, who represents a continued break from the club’s previous trend of exclusively signing young stars.

“As a person, I am very friendly and familiar,” Chavarría added in the wake of a transfer thought to have crept to $28.8 million (€25 million), which would represent the largest sale in Rayo’s history. “I am very happy always to be with my teammates. I’m very happy to be here and I want to meet my new teammates.”

Chavarría Toes the Party Line in First Interview

Welcome to Chelsea, Pep. ☕️ pic.twitter.com/oq1KPncIzs
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) August 12, 2026

Chavarría isn’t quite as senior as the likes of Danny Welbeck and Jordan Henderson, but he continued the trend of Chelsea signings this summer by lauding the status of the club in his opening comments.

Morgan Rogers snubbed Arsenal, his reported rival suitors this summer, to hail Chelsea as the biggest team in London, while Maxence Lacroix giddily called the Blues “the best club in the world.”

“I’m so excited to get started,” Chavarría gushed. “This is a dream for me as Chelsea are one of the biggest clubs in the world. It is a big opportunity but I am prepared and will work hard to help the team achieve success.

“There are a lot of people who have helped me get to this moment and I have to thank my family. They have always supported me and today is only possible because of them.”

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