Chelsea’s new left-back was in Spain’s fourth tier at 18, and in a European final in May

Pep Chavarria made his senior debut at 18 for his hometown club in the Spanish fourth tier. In May he played in a European final. On Wednesday he signed for Chelsea.

The left-back has joined from Rayo Vallecano on a contract to 2031, the club confirmed. Sky Sports reported an initial fee of £16.3m with a further £1.7m in add-ons, which by the standards of this Chelsea window is close to loose change.

The Cucurella replacement, eventually

Chelsea have needed a senior left-back since Marc Cucurella left for Real Madrid in June in a deal worth up to £51.8m. Negotiations with Rayo ran for over a month before the fee was settled. Chavarria, who is 28, gives Xabi Alonso competition for Jorrel Hato on that side and an option in the wing-back shape the head coach favours.

He is also the kind of signing Chelsea spent three years refusing to make. The club that bought teenagers on contracts running most of a decade has added Danny Welbeck and Jordan Henderson this summer, both over 30, and now a left-back who did not reach La Liga until he was 24.

Figueres, Olot, Zaragoza, Rayo

Chavarria started at UE Figueres, then in the fourth tier, and debuted against CF Peralada. He moved to third-division Olot in 2018 and played 52 times for them. Real Zaragoza took him to the second tier in August 2020, where his professional debut came in a 2-2 draw with Las Palmas the following month. Rayo signed him in August 2022.

Four years later he leaves as one of the constants of back-to-back eighth-place finishes in La Liga and a European final. Rayo lost that Conference League final 1-0 to Crystal Palace in Leipzig in May. Chavarria played 44 matches across the campaign that took them there.

“This is a dream for me as Chelsea are one of the biggest clubs in the world,” he said in his first comments as a Chelsea player. “It is a big opportunity but I am prepared and will work hard to help the team achieve success.”

The odd part of the swap

There is a wrinkle worth pointing out. Rayo Vallecano, a club with a fraction of Chelsea’s budget, played in a European final eleven weeks ago. Chelsea finished tenth in the Premier League last season and have no European football at all this year, which is the context for a summer that has already brought in Morgan Rogers for a British record £117m, Maxence Lacroix, Marco Palestra and Valentin Barco.

Cucurella did not want to stay for a season without Europe. Chavarria has walked into the same situation from the opposite direction, and clearly decided the badge was worth it. Alonso now has to make the squad worth the spending, starting with a league campaign where tenth cannot happen twice.

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