WE GO!

This season has been the best of my career so far

- MARC CUCURELLA

MARC CUCURELLA describes 2024 as the best year of his career.

And now the Chelsea fullback wants to finish his never-ending season in glorious style by winning the Club World Cup.

It was a year ago this weekend that Cucurella helped Spain win the Euros - beating England 2-1 in the final in Berlin - which was almost the crowning glory in a turnaround in his own fortunes.

Cucurella used to be a target for the Chelsea boo boys as he endured two difficult seasons after joining the club from Brighton for a huge fee of £62million in 2022.

But Cucurella won back the fans with his swashbuckling determination which helped Chelsea win the Europa Conference League and has been such a feature in their run to today’s final in the MetLife Stadium in New York.

Cucurella, 26, admits it has been a tough journey through injury and fan backlash, yet it all changed in March 2024 when he scored against Leicester and he has never looked back under current boss Enzo Maresca.

He said: "I started to enjoy my journey here after my ankle injury.

"When I was injured, I was three months out, and then I had a lot of time to think about myself and to know myself better and what is good for me and what I needed to work on more.