‘He had kept it quiet’ – Gavi surprised by Cucurella’s Real Madrid move

Syndicated reporting provided by Stats Perform and reviewed by the SoccerNews editorial team.

Gavi admitted he and the rest of the Spain squad were surprised by Marc Cucurella’s move to Real Madrid as he “kept it quiet”.

Cucurella, a former Barcelona academy graduate, joined Madrid in a deal reportedly worth €60m (£51.8m) from Chelsea earlier this week.

The left-back had been linked with a move back to Barcelona towards the end of the season, but Cucurella claimed it was an “easy decision” to make the switch to Madrid.

He is currently at the World Cup with Spain, but Gavi said he gave no hint of a transfer happening, leading to shock in the camp on Monday.

“We only found out in training the day before, well, just after the session,” Gavi told RAC1.

“No one knew. He had kept it quiet, the b******. We didn’t expect it.”

— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadriden) June 15, 2026

Madrid, now led by Jose Mourinho for the second time, are looking to end Barcelona’s recent run of success after Hansi Flick led them to back-to-back LaLiga titles.

And Gavi poked a little bit of fun at Cucurella, noting that Lamine Yamal, who scored 16 goals and registered 11 assists in all competitions in 2025-26, would cause him a lot of problems in the Clasico.

“Now he has to defend against Lamine,” Gavi added.

“[Madrid] have changed full-backs a lot in recent years. It’s very hard to stop Lamine – I hope he remains unstoppable.

“But it will be nice. I like Cucu as an opponent. He’s tenacious, he’s intense… he’s a good signing for Madrid, and I am happy for him.”

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