“It’s our job to help and support him” – Graham Potter defends struggling Chelsea star

Chelsea manager Graham Potter has called for fans to support and protect Marc Cucurella as he has 'stuff going on' in his private life. The left-back has been in poor for some time, and there have been rallying calls for him to be dropped.

Youngster Lewis Hall did replace Cucurella in a few games, but the Spaniard won his place back in the team last month. He will now face tougher competition with Ben Chilwell back from his injury.

In his press conference ahead of the match against West Ham United on February 11, Potter hinted that Cucurella had some issues in his private life. He said:

"They're humans with private lives and have stuff going on. Marc is not the only one. Supporters pay their money and the most important thing is what happens on that pitch in the 90 minutes."

He added:

"Marc is going about his work but I think he knows he isn't going through his greatest form right now. It's our job to help and support him and bring him to the place where he shows everyone his qualities."

Cucurella joined the Blues from Brighton & Hove Albion last summer and has since made 24 appearances for the club across competitions, providing two assists.

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Chelsea legend wants Marc Cucurella dropped

Former Chelsea defender Frank Leboeuf has claimed that Marc Cucurella is not good enough to play for the club. He added that he was hoping for Ben Chilwell to regain fitness so that the former Leicester City man could start the matches.

He told ESPN:

"Hopefully Reece James and Ben Chilwell will go back into fitness as soon as possible because we need them. We don't want to see Cucurella anymore. With all due respect to a man that I don't know, the player is not good enough for Chelsea. It's as simple as that. It's crazy that they signed him for £60m or £70m, but we can see that he doesn't belong to this level."

Leboeuf was critical of the Spaniard from the start and questioned Chelsea's decision in August:

"People are going to think I don't like him - it's not the case. It's just I think Cucurella has only played for Getafe and Brighton, and £65m for a player who's 24, played like 30 or 40 games in the Premier League, I think it's a lot. I think the world of football is getting crazy."

Chelsea are still 10 points away from the Premier League top four. They know that they need to pick up the pace to have any chance of playing in the UEFA Champions League next season.