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Chelsea have made Caicedo their priority midfield target this summer but their latest offer of £70 million has been rejected by Brighton.
The Ecuador international has made no secret of his desire to join Chelsea, describing the club as a ‘a very big, historic, beautiful team’, and Cucurella is eager to link back up with his former Brighton teammate.
When asked about Chelsea’s move for Caicedo, Cucurella said: ‘I think he wants to come here, I’ve read in the media a lot of times.
‘For me, I have a really good relationship with him because we played together at Brighton.
‘He’s a top player, a good midfielder, if he came here I think we’d have a top midfielder for a long time.’
Cucurella is also intent on staying at Chelsea, despite struggling last season after his £63m move from Brighton.
‘Yes, for sure I want to stay at Chelsea,’ he said.
‘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.’
Cucurella also believes Chelsea’s lack of physicality last season was one of the main reasons behind the team’s poor run of form.
When asked about Chelsea’s pre-season preparations under Pochettino, Cucurella said: ‘The first weeks are not easy,
‘We’ve worked a lot, we run a lot, I think it’s important because now the Premier League is very hard, it’s very physical.
‘We need to win this physicality because obviously we have the quality to play but I think the last season we didn’t stay in the same level because we tried to do our best but we didn’t arrive at the same level to the other teams.
‘I think the most important thing, the first step, is to stay fit and then start to play.
‘We run a lot, we’re training double sessions, at the moment I’m very happy but now when I think when you see your teammates suffer and in pain, they’re running a lot, it’s a good thing to build relationships to help your teammates and we move that to the pitch.
‘This is one of the most important things, staying with your teammates, staying together and running for your teammates, if you don’t have this it’s impossible at this level.’
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