Why a Juan Cuadrado Move to Chelsea Would Be Bad for Both Chelsea and Fiorentina

Fiorentina’s Juan Cuadrado could be the most exotic signing this transfer window, as Chelsea are reportedly lining up a transfer bid worth around the £27 million mark, according to Simon Jones' Daily Mail report. However, if the deal were to go ahead, it would be bad for business for both clubs.

Of course, Cuadrado is a very good attacking midfielder. He was one of the key pieces of Colombia’s successful run in the World Cup last summer, and he was only outshone by Real Madrid’s James Rodriguez.

Bleacher Report's Jack Lusby wrote a great piece explaining what he can offer Chelsea in terms of both attacking movement and defensive flexibility—something few attacking midfielders have and something that Jose Mourinho desires.

Yet Cuadrado’s exit from Fiorentina could have disastrous consequences, as it will seriously damage their chances of making the Champions League next season. Meanwhile, Chelsea will spend yet more money on an overpriced attacking talent who will probably fail to live up to expectations.

For Fiorentina, keeping Cuadrado is a top priority if they want to qualify for the Champions League. At the moment the Viola are lying sixth place in Serie A and are only three points of the top three.

A huge part of that is down to Cuadrado scoring a goal every four games in the league. His touch, pace and physicality tends to lend himself more to Premier League football, and thus there is a possibility that he could do bigger and better things in England.

However, whether or not he gets that opportunity is down to his current manager, Vincenzo Montella. According to the Mail Online, he said the following to the Italian press:

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As of today, there's no possibility that Cuadrado will leave Fiorentina. He knows that certain things are exaggerated. There are just rumours and he is not paying attention to all that.

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A report by Tony Banks in the Express also claims that Montella is threatening to quit if the Colombian superstar leaves the Florence-based team.

There is also another reason why Montella wants to keep Cuadrado that is beyond the Colombian’s ability and the pursuit of being in Europe’s elite competition. Fiorentina need all the help they can get at the moment.

Mario Gomez finally scored his first two goals in a long time (he had only scored once in the last 10 months) for Fiorentina and Giuseppe Rossi’s injury woes means he has not played this season. They need all the goals they can get, and Cuadrado is the club’s second-highest goalscorer, and he also tops the assists chart.

Add to the fact that Fiorentina are relying on their defence—fourth-best in Serie A in terms of goals conceded—to carry them to victories. Losing Brazilian goalkeeper Norberto Neto to either Arsenal or Liverpool, as reported by Paul Gorst in Metro, would be horrific for the team. Therefore, it is no wonder why Montella might want to leave Fiorentina.

Meanwhile, questions have to be raised about whether or not Chelsea need yet another attacking midfielder. The squad already has Eden Hazard, Willian, Oscar, Andre Schurrle and Mohamed Salah (as well as the option to play Cesc Fabregas in a more advanced position too).

Mourinho’s solution, if he wants add Cuadrado to his squad, is to potentially get rid of two players

Mohamed Salah seems the obvious choice as the 22-year-old Egyptian has not had the time at Chelsea to develop his skills and abilities as a winger. According to a report by Joe Short in the Express, he is heading to Roma on loan with a view to signing a permanent deal in the next transfer window. Salah would come at a price tag of £11.2 million, a price that Roma (or most Serie A clubs for that matter) might be reluctant to pay.

The other attacking midfielder who could go in this window is Andre Schurrle. Sky Sports News HQ reported, via Twitter, that Mourinho has confirmed that the German international will remain at Chelsea for the time being.

But as the statistics show in their tweet, Schurrle has not been the most efficient of their attacking players, as he has only created 12 chances in 22 games. That is an extremely disappointing return, and getting rid of Schurrle to balance the books would be the right and opportunistic thing to do.

On the flip side, would Cuadrado be the ideal replacement for somebody like Schurrle? It appears that the trio of Hazard, Oscar and Willian sitting behind Diego Costa is the ideal attacking four for Chelsea, so they should not disrupt that with yet another unnecessary player.

Moreover, history dictates that Chelsea have a high turnover of attacking talent in recent times. Players like Marko Marin, Victor Moses and Gael Kakuta are constantly on loan with no hope of making Chelsea’s starting XI, while others like Romelu Lukaku, Kevin De Bruyne and Juan Mata are sold on without being granted the chance to shine in Mourinho’s system. Cuadrado cannot become another casualty of that.

Chelsea should not waste money when they could look at bringing in another quality defensive midfielder to sit alongside Nemanja Matic, which in turn would give Fabregas the opportunity to become even more of an offensive threat. That would be a better upgrade for what is the best Chelsea squad in a decade.

And here is something that should also not be forgotten if Chelsea do make a bid for Cuadrado: He flopped at Udinese and was forced to move on loan to Lecce, before he was signed by Fiorentina. Sometimes players are meant to fit a club, and this potential transfer echoes the Fernando Torres move.

While Cuadrado is a wiser and superior talent than he was back at Udinese—his record for Fiorentina means that he is highly unlikely to be as creative as Hazard or surpass the likes of Oscar or Willian. (Refer back to the Sky Sports tweet and the ESPN statistics for Cuadrado).

For £27 million, they are not going to get an absolute world-beater. They are going to get someone who is just good, which is pretty underwhelming considering the bill that Roman Abramovich is willing to foot.

Fiorentina and Chelsea fans alike can relax, though. These Cuadrado rumours happen all the time, and it could be that his agent is only trying to force a move to the Premier League. After all, he has been rumoured to join the likes of both Manchester City and Manchester United before, as reported by James Cambridge in the Express.

Either way, if this deal were to occur then it would definitely be a terrible move by both clubs. Especially for Fiorentina, because they could easily hold out until the summer and then demand his release clause to be paid up by a Premier League unit. Meanwhile, Chelsea really need to assess all their options before pursuing yet another attacking midfielder.

Broderick Sutherland is a B/R Contributor. Follow on him twitter—@BrodSutherland