The 2024/25 campaign was a brilliant one for Chelsea with two trophies lifted, Champions League football secured, and plenty of positive contributions across the pitch.
We are reviewing each of our players’ seasons and we continue today with a close look at how our right-backs and left-backs fared. Remember, the qualifying criteria is that players finished the season in our Club World Cup squad and played at least one competitive game. Our four full-backs all showed their versatility and adaptability under Enzo Maresca…
Marc Cucurella
Total appearances: 54 (47 starts)
Minutes played: 4,776
Goals: 7
Assists: 4
Fresh from starring in Spain’s Euro 2024 triumph last summer, Marc Cucurella went from strength to strength in his third season as a Chelsea player. Nobody made more appearances than Cucurella’s 54, and nobody spent more time on the pitch than him as he showed his worth in Maresca’s system.
The head coach selected the 27-year-old at left-back but regularly gave him instructions to invert into midfield or even further up the field, from where he could impact our forward play. Cucu did that to great effect, scoring seven goals including crucial winners at home to Leicester City and Manchester United. The latter, a close-range header, typified his ability to attack the box with purpose.
Cucurella reached the landmark of 100 Chelsea appearances in the home victory against Everton, and he was undoubtedly one of our star performers of the season, maintaining consistently high standards and not missing a game through injury or illness. Winning his first silverware in blue in the form of the UEFA Conference League and the Club World Cup was a fitting end to a superb campaign for the fans’ favourite.
Malo Gusto
Total appearances: 48 (30 starts)
Minutes played: 3,137
Goals: 0
Assists: 3
Malo Gusto showed new strings to his bow during 2024/25 as he was regularly asked to invert into midfield from a full-back position.
‘Malo is helping us a lot in terms of process because he is playing as a holding midfielder, he is playing in the pocket, he is playing at some moments as a central midfielder,’ Maresca explained of Gusto’s role.
A first Chelsea goal for Gusto didn’t look any closer to arriving, but the Frenchman still had a positive impact in the final third, notably in the Club World Cup final. Used as a more conventional overlapping right-back, to great effect, Gusto had a shot blocked before teeing up Cole Palmer to put us ahead against PSG.
Gusto’s development was also recognised on the international stage. He picked up his second and third caps at senior level for France in the UEFA Nations League finals at the end of the domestic season.
Reece James
Total appearances: 32 (22 starts)
Minutes played: 1,992
Goals: 3
Assists: 2
Injury restricted Reece James to four appearances in the first half of the season - two of which came at left-back - but he was able to sustain positive levels of fitness and availability after Christmas. The reward? Lifting his first pieces of silverware as Chelsea captain.
In January, James marked his return to action in the Premier League after two months out with a pinpoint free-kick equaliser against Bournemouth in injury time. His team-mates and everyone inside the Bridge erupted in joy not solely for the significance of the goal, but because of how much it meant for James after everything he had been through.
Maresca handled the skipper carefully, ensuring not to overburden him. He sometimes deployed James in a holding central midfield role; on other occasions he asked him to invert inside when he did line up in his more customary right-back position.
James made a big difference when he came off the bench in the Conference League final, finishing the night with the trophy in his hands, and he was excellent in New York, too, helping us win the midfield battle against PSG’s much-hyped trio in the Club World Cup showpiece.
Josh Acheampong
Total appearances: 13 (10 starts)
Minutes played: 929
Goals: 0
Assists: 0
Academy graduate Josh Acheampong cemented his place in Chelsea’s senior squad just before Christmas having impressed Maresca in training and made his mark in the UEFA Conference League.
Maresca saw fit to hand Acheampong a full Premier League debut away to Crystal Palace in January and the then 18-year-old rewarded his head coach with an assured display in the heart of defence. He started the 2-2 draw at home to Bournemouth a few days later, too.
As the season progressed, Acheampong appeared most often in Europe, and as a full-back rather than centre-back, with the ability to invert. He started five consecutive Conference League knockout games and was singled out for praise by Maresca after the win away to Legia Warsaw.
He then played his part in the Club World Cup, featuring throughout the comfortable victory against ES Tunis to round off an impressive debut season in the Chelsea first team.