Madrid, March 31 Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella said it would be difficult to refuse a return to Barcelona if the opportunity arose, while also expressing frustration with his club's direction this season.
The 27-year-old Spanish international had gone through Barcelona's youth system but made just one first-team appearance in the Copa del Rey before spells with Eibar and Getafe. He later moved to the Premier League, spending a season at Brighton before joining Chelsea in June 2022.
Speaking ahead of Spain's friendly against Egypt on Tuesday, Cucurella said a return to Camp Nou would be hard to refuse, according to Xinhua.
"It's not just me, it's also my family," he said. "If the chance comes, then we'll have to make a decision."
The left-back also criticised Chelsea's decision earlier this season to sack coach Enzo Maresca and suggested the club remains short of the level required to compete for major honours, partly due to its policy of recruiting younger players.
"You are fighting and training every day only to realise, at the very end, that when games matter, we are still a bit away from the top level," he said.
"I understand that this is part of the club's policy, and that they want to take this direction, but for all of us who are still here and want to achieve great things, moments like this can be discouraging."
"We have a good core of players. The foundations are there. But to fight for major trophies such as the Premier League or the Champions League, you need more. Focusing only on young players might complicate achieving those goals. Against PSG, we lacked players who had experienced situations like that.
“You also need time, and I know that young players are the ones who will have the experience in the future. But you need to find the balance between both worlds,” he said.
Chelsea's policy of prioritizing youth over experience in player recruitment is jeopardizing their chances of winning major trophies, he said.