Chelsea hope to confirm Juan Cuadrado’s arrival from Fiorentina, subject to the player passing a medical and gaining international clearance, for an initial fee of around £23.3m over the weekend after the Colombia international visited the Viola’s training ground to bid farewell to his team-mates.
Cuadrado will fly to London on Saturday morning to undergo medical tests after the two clubs agreed a deal that, with add-ons, could eventually satisfy the £26.8m release clause in the 24-year-old’s current contract. Mohamed Salah is expected to move to the Italian club on loan, with Chelsea meeting his wages, though the bulk of the transfer fee for the Colombian will effectively be met by André Schürrle’s imminent departure for Wolfsburg.
The World Cup winner, who has started only five Premier League games this season, was due in Germany to undergo his own medical after verbal agreement was reached on a £22.5m deal to take Schurrle back to the Bundesliga after lengthy talks this week. The player’s agent, Ingo Haspel, confirmed that he expected the deal to go through ahead of the weekend with Schürrle to join his former Chelsea team-mate, Kevin de Bruyne, at the club who currently sit second in their domestic league.
Cuadrado, so impressive at last summer’s World Cup finals, is expected to sign a four-and-a-half-year deal at Stamford Bridge having agreed personal terms following negotiations undertaken by his agent, Alessandro Lucci. He may attend the Premier League leaders’ game against the champions, Manchester City, on Saturday evening before returning to Italy to await international clearance with his new team’s visit to Aston Villa next Saturday likely to provide him with his debut.
Vincenzo Montella, the Fiorentina manager, said on Friday afternoon: “I want to be honest: it [the sale of Cuadrado] was something that had to be done. As a coach I’m sorry because technically he is such a good player but the club has made the right decision. We get a great player in Salah although we will need some time to adapt to each other. Salah is not quite the same player as Cuadrado and can’t play as a quinto, so we will need a ‘vice-Joaquin’.
“Is is a distraction? We are used to it. It is not anyone’s fault and we can’t use Cuadrado’s exit as an excuse for tomorrow’s game. Could we have kept Cuadrado until the summer? Yes, possibly but he always gave everything for the club and he would have done again if he had played tomorrow. He is an ultimate professional and I am happy for him because he is joining a big club. We have to show that Cuadrado is not the only reason we are where we are.”
Post a Comment