Portugal Colonial - Chelsea's Cucurella laments 'instability' caused by Maresca exit

Maresca left Stamford Bridge by mutual consent on New Year's Day after just 18 months in charge following a breakdown in his relationship with the London side's hierarchy.

Chelsea were then fifth in the Premier League table -- 15 points adrift of leaders Arsenal.

The Italian was initially replaced by Under-21s coach Calum McFarlane before current manager Liam Rosenior arrived from Strasbourg -- a club also owned by Blues supremo Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital.

Chelsea, however, have won only four of their last 12 matches, suffering a humiliating 8-2 aggregate defeat by holders Paris Saint-Germain as they crashed out of the Champions League and slipping to sixth in the Premier League.

While Chelsea and Spain defender Cucurella said Rosenior's "football ideas are good", he believes changing managers in mid-season has caused "instability" at Stamford Bridge.

"These are decisions taken by the club. If you asked me, I would not have made this decision," the 27-year-old told the Athletic.

"To make a change like that, the best thing is to wait until the end of the season. You would give everyone, the players and the new manager, time to get ready, have a full pre-season.

"The instability around the club comes from this, in a nutshell. We had a caretaker manager first, then a new manager, with new ideas and no time to work on them. It is what it is."

Cucurella also believes Chelsea's policy of primarily recruiting younger players has left them lacking the experience to compete for trophies

"We have a good core of players," he added. "The foundations are there. But to fight for major trophies such as the Premier League or the Champions League, you need more.

"Signing young players only might complicate achieving those goals. Against PSG, we lacked players that had gone through situations like that."

A.F.Rosado--PC