The word that Fulham Football Club had an €8m package in place for signing left-footed centre-back Jorge Cuenca cropped up out of the blue on Wednesday (31st July). While celebrations that a defender had been targeted ensued in Focus Towers, even the don of random footballers, Jmac, didn’t know who Jorge was. Thankfully, VillarealFanTV slipped into our DMs to let us know what we can expect from the 24-year-old Spaniard if and when he trades the Yellow Submarine for SW6.
Jorge Cuenca’s Profile
Height: 190 CM / 6′ 2″
Foot: Left-footed
Age: 24
Position: Centre-back / Left-back
Club: Villareal –> Fulham
Nationality: Spanish
Who is Jorge Cuenca?
Cuenca is a Spanish-born left-footed centre-back who is poised to join Fulham Football Club. Cuenca was a Barcelona and La Masia product before joining Villarreal in September 2020 for €2.5m. He attracted interest from teams at a young age when he played for the Barcelona B team due to his height, passing and being a left-footed ballplaying centre-back. Villarreal signed Cuenca with the plan for him to be Pau Torres’s replacement, who was heavily linked with big teams in Europe at the time and the similarities in their playing style. Cuenca, unlike Pau Torres, can also play as a left-back, but his natural position is the left side in the centre-back position. According to Javi Mata of Radio Villa-Real, Jorge Cuenca will sign for Fulham in a deal worth €6.7 million with a further €1.5m performance-related add-ons.
What can you tell us about Cuenca’s playing style over the last couple of years? Villareal has had a rough time recently, how has that affected him and his performances?
Cuenca was the long-term option for Villareal, as Pau Torres was continually linked with a move away from the club over recent summers. While Villarreal had planned to integrate him slowly into the team, Cuenca needed playing time. For the 2020/21 Season, he was sent to Almeria in the Segunda division on loan to grow and develop.
He played 39 matches in total, scoring 4 goals (3 in the league and 1 in Copa Del Rey). Cuenca returned to Villarreal in the summer of 2021 with the hopes of more playing time for the club. Unfortunately for him, Pau Torres was still at the club and Cuenca was loaned out again to Getafe to get La Liga experience. He managed to be an important player for Getafe, playing 32 games (starting 31) and scoring a goal and one assist.
Villarreal decided to keep him for the 2022/2023 season in hopes of him competing and challenging for the centre-back spot. He played 10 matches (starting 5). Cuenca’s limited playing time at the club was again due to Pau Torres being a crucial player for the team. With Pau Torres’s departure to Aston Villa in the summer of 2023 for €33m, Cuenca naturally became the player the club wanted to bet on. The 2023/24 Season started in the worst way for the club and Cuenca. Injuries to key defenders and not replacing key players such as Pau Torres, Nicolas Jackson, and Samu Chukwueze were the leading causes.
The coach, Quique Setién, lost the dressing room and the supporters after the poor results. The team had only won one game, in which Cuenca solidified his position by scoring in an opening match against Real Betis, which Villareal lost 2-1. The Yellow Submarine would lose four of its opening five games. Throughout this challenging period for Villarreal, Cuenca was one of the few players who played regularly and performed at a consistent level alongside forwards Alexander Sørloth and Gerard Moreno. Quique Setién was sacked on 5 September 2023 and Marcelino took charge a month later.
The turning point for Villarreal and Cuenca came at the beginning of January when Marcelino finally found out how to set up his team defensively after weeks and months of tweaking his defence. Cuenca had been used as a centre-back. However, the new coach strengthened his defence by bringing in Eric Bailly from Besiktas and Yerson Mosquera from Wolves in the January transfer window. This partnership became well-drilled, and Cuenca was moved to left back. Here, Cuenca showed another side of his game that was limited when he played as a centre-back. He became more threatening in the final third, scoring two goals and assisting another from January till the end of last season.
What are Jorge Cuenca’s Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths
- Passing: Cuenca’s main strength is his passing game. His passing accuracy last season was 94.6% in short passes (5m – 13m), and his medium-range passing (13 m – 27m) was 88.9%. He tends to play it safe when he is not under pressure to make sure the team keeps possession. When pressed, he plays progressive passes, either down the left side or through the middle. He generally has a progressive playing style, both in his passing and his ball-carrying game, depending on how the opposition presses him.
- Areal Duels (Defensive and Attacking): This is one of Cuenca’s strongest attributes. He thrives in his ability to read danger when defending and find space for himself to score in attack, especially in set pieces and corners.
- Tackling: Cuenca’s tackle is another strong attribute. This usually comes into play when he faces pacy players. Cuenca will tackle as a last resort if he can’t make contact or if he isn’t able to win the ball quickly enough.
Weaknesses
- Speed: Cuenca is comfortable when the ball is played in front of him and when he doesn’t have to worry about looking over his shoulders. His biggest weakness is the ability to readjust if the ball is played over or between him and his CB partner, as he isn’t a pacy defender. He struggles against pacy players with technical abilities. His turning radius can let him down, which is why Marcelino didn’t fully trust him as a centre-back.
- Concentration: He has a tendency to “go to sleep” at vital moments in the match. He can lose his man or doesn’t see the run being made behind him and commits unnecessary fouls in dangerous areas.
- Prone to be bullied: Cuenca can be bullied by strikers if he faces a physical striker. He doesn’t seem to have an answer for that. He tends to commit fouls to put a stop to it, and this has led to him getting booked.
Conclusions
Jorge Cuenca is a player with good potential if he gets fully backed by the coach [Our italics – This is the sort of thing we know Marco Silva does]. I think he will suit Fulham; he is comfortable with the ball and dangerous from set pieces. The Premier League is a physically demanding league, and Cuenca will have to step to the level of the league he is moving to.
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