(Video): Pundit on cult hero’s “remarkable turnaround” to become “third name on the teamsheet” | OneFootball

The nominations for various player and team of the year awards are out, and after a very up and down season, it’s no surprise that there are few (if any) Chelsea players named.

Cole Palmer didn’t keep up his form all year, and Moises Caicedo still isn’t widely appreciated for his abilities. The fact the team did poorly at times obviously didn’t help.

Chelsea man comes close to awards with incredible turnaround

Marc Cucurella celebrates against Manchester United. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

One player who must be very close to some teams of the season is Marc Cucurella however. There just weren’t many better left backs in the league this season. On the London is Blue podcast today they discussed his progress from one of the least popular to one of the most popular players in the squad:

“The way that the attitude has shifted around him in like two seasons is one of the most roller-coaster experiences [we’ve seen at Chelsea],” presenter Dan Dormer said.

“He went from maligned season one to beloved season three. Is there another player who has done this transition this quickly for Chelsea?” pundit Dan Verlaney added. They couldn’t think of an example.

You can see them speaking in the clip embedded here:

Cucurella deserves credit for improvement over 2 years

“He’s a player who Chelsea fans wrote off, like wrote off completely… I think we were not too kind to him on this podcast. If we’re honest, he had some bad performances back then, and now, is like the third name on the team sheet, and it’s not that close. It’s a remarkable turnaround, and it’s a huge amount of credit to him for working his way though it, and improving dramatically too. He has certainly stepped up.”

We agree – nothing makes a cult hero more cult that starting out unpopular.