Firecracker and mane: Mark Kokoria's fit for Chelsea and Barcelona's miss

In Barcelona, ​​they didn't believe in the long-haired talent who refused to get a haircut because he wanted to follow in the footsteps of Alilo Carles Puyol, and after carving his way from the bottom he arrived at a binding price to Chelsea, until now he justifies every euro.

Tonight (21:45, Sport2) Southampton is waiting for him

Michael Yochin

30/08/2022

Tuesday, August 30, 2022, 3:00 p.m

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Summary of Chelsea's 1:2 victory over Leicester City (Sport1)

Already in Mark Kokoria's debut game at Stamford Bridge, his hairstyle made headlines.

Deep into injury time, when Chelsea were leading in the derby against Tottenham, Christian Romero pulled the Catalan's hair, but the referee missed the incident.

The VAR chose not to intervene because it is not a seemingly critical error, the ball went to the corner, and Harry Kane equalized 2:2.

"He needs to get a haircut," they told Kokuriya then, as if that was the real problem.

"No chance," he replied.

He had heard those words far too many times before.

The Barcelona management claimed this regularly when they watched him play in the reserve team uniform.

"Tell him to cut his hair short. He looks too messy," his coach Gerard Lopes heard from them.

The requests were indeed forwarded, but the refusal was absolute, and Lopes actually understood the boy very well.

Kokorea likes to do things in his own unique way, and above all he longed to resemble his greatest idol ever - Carles Puyol.

Tarzan was his role model even when he played for Espanyol's children's team.

When former star Guillermo Amor discovered him and transferred him to La Masia at the age of 12, the obsession intensified even more.

Kokuriye dreamed, truly and sincerely, of being the successor of the captain, who was just then at the end of his career.

Most of the coaches who worked with him, including Gerrard, believed that the ambitions were not unreasonable at all.

Unfortunately, at the top of the club they decided otherwise.

Justified purchase.

Mark Kokuriye (Photo: Reuters)

In retrospect, the absurd choice of President Josep Maria Bartomeu and his gang seems even more delusional.

It is unfathomable - almost a deliberate crime against the Blaugrana.

Kokoria became the most expensive defender in English history when Chelsea paid Brighton around £62 million for him, and the first games in blue clearly indicate that no one will regret the money. How much did Barca get for the outstanding youngster two years ago? Just 10 million euros, And luckily, the man preferred over him, Junior Pirfo, who came from Betis for 18 million euros, was sold in a short time in a loss to Leeds.

Opinions differ on the reasons why all of Cucoria's first-team appearances for Barcelona amount to 7 meaningless minutes in a cup match against a paltry opponent somewhere in 2017, but one popular version - put forward at the time by El País newspaper commentator Diego Torres - lies in too high a motivation .

When training with the senior squad, the new Tarzan showed his immense enthusiasm, fought for a ball, and at times even recklessly tackled the biggest stars including Leo Messi.

He was, therefore, defined as too dangerous, and pushed aside.

Is this really true?

It is impossible to know for now, and Kokuriye himself testified that he has not the faintest idea, but if there is even one millimeter of truth in the claim, then the farce grows to even more grotesque proportions.

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The role model.

Carles Puyol (Photo: GettyImages, Clive Brunskill)

In their attempt to get rid of the energetic left defender, the Catalans sent him on loan to Eibar in the summer of 2018, and also gave the Basques an option to purchase him for 2 million euros.

Eibar took the option with great joy after a magical season, in which Kokuriye was included many times also as a wing player, and provided, among other things, a great game against Real Madrid when he was directly involved in all the goals in a 0:3 victory.

Barca also made sure to include a clause in the contract that allows them to sign him back for 4 million euros, and did so - but immediately sent him to Getafe at the end of the 2019 transfer window. This time, too, there was a purchase option for 10 million euros.

This time it was not possible to cancel it.

"Coco is a player who adapts to any place," said coach Ivar José Mandiliber.

It is not trivial to leave the hotbed of Barcelona, ​​where a very specific style is practiced, and go to lower teams that play in a completely different way, but Kokorea did not have any problem.

He even had fun with Getafe's boss at the time, Jose Bardalas, who first wanted to disrupt the opponent, and only then build his own game.

Because the Catalan is first of all an uncompromising fighter, who is determined to learn, listen and accept criticism when necessary.

His technical abilities are exceptional, his contribution to attacks is great in every game, but he enjoys picking up balls just as much, and burns his wing - no matter what role.

Defender, midfielder, winger - for him there is no essential difference.

He took all the dressing rooms he visited by storm thanks to his charisma and commitment, and accepted every challenge with great joy.

So last summer, the challenge was England.

Burnley and Brighton made offers to sign him, and he was happy.

Financially, the bottom team was better, but in terms of net football, Graham Potter's team attracted him more.

At Brighton, he is teamed not only as a winger, but even as a left back in the trio.

And maybe his physical and technical data are much less suitable for that, but Puyol was a brakeman - so for him there was a certain closing of the circle here.

If not to be like Tarzan at Camp Nou, then at least at Brighton.

And he did it in the best way.

Both the fans, and the players themselves, chose him to play this season in his first year in the Premier League, and big teams lined up to sign him.

It's hard to imagine Chelsea without him.

Mark Kokuriye (Photo: Reuters)

The first option was Manchester City, whose Catalan origins are well known.

Not only Pep Guardiola highly appreciates Cucoria, but also the sporting director Chiki Begiristain who knew a lot about the boy even when he was at La Masia.

When she convinced him to sign a year ago, Brighton assured him that she would not stand in his way if a fair offer from a bigger club arrived, but ironically he would be "priced" as a stopper.

"They are more expensive," said Potter - drawing Kokoria's attention to Ben White who was sold to Arsenal a year ago for £50m.

So the negotiations reached an impasse, and City gradually dropped out of the chapter, but Chelsea actually entered there with a storm. With Tuchel, who plays with a trio of brakes and energetic wing players who close the whole line, they saw Kokoria as a fantastic alternative. Not as a brake, of course, but to gallop on the left and upgrade the position in Marcos Alonso's place. Although he scores fewer goals and threatens less from distance, he is better compared to him in most other parameters. The amount demanded by Brighton was of less concern to the new owner Ted Boley who wants to be portrayed as a generous landlord. In the case of Kokoria, it really was an investment extremely wise.

So within a few days, he became a beloved character, and it's also hard to imagine the lineup without him.

In the same debut against Tottenham, Kokoria scored Kalidou Koulibaly's first goal for Chelsea with a corner kick, and last Saturday he even sent a measured lift that turned into Raheem Sterling's winning goal against Leicester.

Already, he has more assists than in a whole and excellent season at Brighton, and the future is expected to be even rosier.

With this hair, it's very hard to miss, and some will want to pull it, but it doesn't matter.

The Blues have a new Tarzan, and Barcelona fans can only miss him, while cursing Bartomeu.

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