Cucurella warns Chelsea's youth focus may hinder trophy ambitions

Chelsea's youth-heavy recruitment strategy may have complicated their ability to compete for major trophies and the club must strike a better balance between ​development and experience, left back Marc Cucurella has said.

Chelsea were dumped ‌out of the Champions League following a thumping 8-2 aggregate defeat by Paris St Germain in the last 16 and have won only four of their last 12 matches across ​all competitions.

Their struggles have fuelled speculation over the future of midfielder Enzo ​Fernandez, despite the Argentine World Cup winner being under contract ⁠until 2032.

"You are fighting and training every day only to realise, at ​the very end, that when games matter, we are still a bit away ​from the top level," Cucurella told The Athletic in an interview published on Tuesday.

"I understand this is part of the club's policy, and that they want to take this ​direction - signing young players and looking to the future.

"But, for all of ​us who are still here and want to win big things, moments like this make ‌you ⁠feel discouraged."

The 27-year-old Spain international said Chelsea had a good core of players but needed more experience to challenge for major honours.

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

Cucurella ⁠also said that the January departure of head coach Enzo Maresca, who led the London team to the Club World ​Cup title last year, had had a big impact on ​the squad.

"These ⁠are decisions taken by the club. If you asked me, I would not have made this decision. To make a change like that, the best thing ⁠is ​to wait until the end of the season," ​he said.

"You would give everyone, the players and the new manager, time to get ready, have ​a full pre-season."