Exclusive: Enzo Maresca Already Has a Transfer Wishlist if He Lands the Real Madrid Job

Enzo Maresca will implore Real Madrid to break protocol and sign a former Barcelona player if he is offered the chance to take charge at the Bernabau, SportsBoom can reveal.

The former Chelsea head coach, who left Stamford Bridge under a cloud earlier this month following a disagreement with the Premier League club’s owners BlueCo, is viewed as a potential long-term successor to Alvaro Arbeloa after he replaced Xabi Alonso at the helm earlier this week.

Given his strained relationship with The Blues’ hierarchy, which prompted the extraordinary outburst during a post-match media conference that was responsible for hastening his departure, Maresca would have no concerns about trying to plunder the World Club champions’ squad. 

And, according to sources, that is likely to see him ask Los Blancos’ president Florentino Perez to try and capture Marc Cucurella if he is eventually approached for the position.

Arbeloa, previously of Liverpool and West Ham, has not been handed an interim role but, privately, his employers are already compiling a short list of alternatives should his reign fail to ignite.

He tenure got off to the worst possible start as they were dumped out of the Copa del Rey by second-tier Albacete on Wednesday night. 

Despite acknowledging it would be a controversial move to bring Cucurella to Real given the defender’s associations with their greatest rivals, Maresca views him as arguably the best exponent of the inverted full-backs tactic which is integral to his strategy and has resolved to try and recruit him wherever he pitches up next.

Wanted by Europe's Big Guns

The player himself has no desire to quit Chelsea, after gaining cult-hero status among their fan base despite ending a slow start to his career in the capital after arriving from Brighton and Hove Albion. 

But Maresca is convinced that the lure of joining arguably the biggest club on the planet would prompt Cucurella’s representatives to at least consider any approach. 

Equally, although he has no beef with his successor Liam Rosenior, Maresca knows any speculation about the international’s future would irritate The Blues hierarchy as he is also monitored by the likes of Juventus, Internazionale and Milan.

Aged 27, Cucurella is among the most experienced options at Rosenior’s disposal after winning 22 caps for Spain.

Intriguingly, which will not go unnoticed by Perez, he has also represented Catalonia at senior level - a feat which could make brokering any deal difficult.

After also spending time on Espanyol’s youth programme, Cucurella was eventually enrolled at Barca’s famed La Masia talent factory. But it was at Getafe, who are located in Madrid, where he established himself as a professional before heading to Brighton and then Chelsea.