Juan Cuadrado: Concerns Chelsea Should Have Signing Fiorentina Star

If Colombian utility player Juan Cuadrado, 26, transfers from Fiorentina to Chelsea, you need to avoid the herd mentality and rush to praise how great a signing he is. 

You should have concerns over how Cuadrado fits into the plans of Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho.

Cuadrado has "reached [an] agreement on personal terms" with Chelsea and will arrive at Stamford Bridge "within 48 hours," per Miguel Delaney at ESPN FC.

The deal will only be sanctioned if Chelsea meet Cuadrado's €35/£26.3 million release clause, according to a tweet from Sky Sport journalist Fabrizio Romano.

It is vital to recognise Cuadrado's metamorphosis, which started at Lecce.

Instead of being an Udinese success story like Cristian Zapata, Cuadrado found himself in an Abel Aguilar-like situation of "I didn't travel all the way from Colombia to Italy just to make up the numbers."

Allan Jiang

Handed a lifeline by then-Lecce manager Serse Cosmi, Cuadrado thrived as a right wing-back.

Completing 112 tackles, 60 interceptions and 118 dribbles, Cuadrado started 33 of 38 Serie A games on loan at Lecce during the 2011-12 season.

"[Cuadrado] is a player who can make a difference at this level," Cosmi said, per Football Italia. "I have no other [player in my squad] with his characteristics."

Gritty in defence and explosive going forward, Cuadrado was Cosmi's answer to Cafu—Il Pendolino (the Express Train).

However, Cuadrado has no intentions of being an Ivan Cordoba-esque pacey lockdown defender.

Having been inspired by Ronaldo, per Mediaset (h/t James Horncastle at WhoScored.com), you begin to understand why Cuadrado changed his mentality from role-player to star.

This factored into Udinese not projecting Cuadrado as first-team material when Fiorentina entered the fray in 2012, per David Amoyal at GianlucaDiMarzio.com:

"

Udinese then made the mistake of sending Cuadrado to Fiorentina on loan for €1 million/£750,000 with an option to buy half his rights for €5/£3.8 million.

After a sensational season, Fiorentina was more than happy to exercise that option.

...

While Cuadrado has great dribbling and speed, he is a liability on defence, where he puts [in] as much effort as Nicolas Cage does in picking movie scripts.

"

Allan Jiang

When Fiorentina interchange from three centre-backs to a back four, rather than play Cuadrado as an overlapping full-back, he starts as a wide forward.

There are two perspectives you can take.

Perspective One: Fiorentina want to take advantage of Cuadrado's direct running.

"What a huge waste having Cuadrado bursting out from the back when he posed a much greater threat as a right midfielder or even further forward," per Alejandro Pino at The Guardian. "In his new position, Cuadrado blossomed."

Perspective Two: Cuadrado's inability to multitask effectively between attacking and defending means it is only logical to play him further forward.

Cuadrado's inattentiveness and substandard positioning is why his defending has deteriorated markedly.

Two alarming statistics for Mourinho to consider when burdening Cuadrado with defensive duties:

• Cuadrado has conceded more fouls (23) than made tackles (20) this season.
• His tackle-success percentage has dropped from 74.2 (2011-12) to 60.6 (2014-15).

Juan Cuadrado	2014-15	2013-14	2012-13	2011-12
Tackles Per Game	1.2	1.8	2.5	3.4
Fouls Per Game	1.4	1.3	1.4	2
Tackles Per Foul	0.9	1.4	1.8	1.7
Tackle Success %	60.6	63.3	78.3	74.2
Interceptions Per Game	0.9	0.8	0.9	1.8

Since Fiorentina bought out Cuadrado's playing rights for €15/£11.3 million, his defending has been as lax as Gareth Bale.

Allan Jiang

A combination of circumstances turned a tactical experiment from Fiorentina manager Vincenzo Montella into Cuadrado's new position—think Bale under Andre Villas-Boas at Tottenham Hotspur.

• Giuseppe Rossi's body continuing to break down.
• Khouma Babacar being seen as an alternative to Mario Gomez, as opposed to a strike partner.
• Josip Ilicic has scored four times and registered one assist in two seasons at Fiorentina. 
• Then-loanee Marko Marin was viewed as a squad player by Montella. Chelsea have re-assigned his loan to Anderlecht.
• Federico Bernardeschi fracturing his ankle.
• Prospects Ante Rebic, Cedric Gondo and Ryder Matos are not rated by Montella.

"

Ciao vespa il tuo addio con in tasca 31/32 ml di euro......é meno traumatico, tanto io tifo fiorentina mica cuadrado! pic.twitter.com/P4iecaL95j

— Grupposicilia (@Grupposicilia) January 30, 2015"

OUT: Andre Schurrle (Wolfsburg), per Simon Jones at the Daily Mail.

IN: Cuadrado (Fiorentina).

It is zany management for Mourinho to replace Schurrle, typically right-sided attacking midfielder, with Cuadrado, who has spent this season predominantly playing as a deep-lying forward.

Mourinho is underestimating the task in curtailing Cuadrado's muscle memory of shooting on sight.

If Cuadrado, who leads Fiorentina in total shots (53), continues his volume shooting at Chelsea, he would be Mourinho's third option. 

The last thing Chelsea need is another profligate shooter.

League 2014-15	Shots Taken	Goals	Shots Per Goal	Shooting Accuracy %
Diego Costa	61	17	3.6	54.1
Oscar	56	6	9.3	28.6
Juan Cuadrado	53	4	13.3	37.7
Eden Hazard	46	8	5.8	41.3
Willian	37	1	37	35.1

Chelsea have offered Fiorentina €31/£23.3 million and are open to sending Mohamed Salah on an 18-month all-expenses-paid loan for Cuadrado, per Sky Sports.

It is foolhardy for Chelsea to pay such an exorbitant package.

It is an extreme switch for Cuadrado to go from having no positional discipline under Montella to being an all-round presence on the right wing for Mourinho. 

Circa Lecce, Cuadrado was a Mourinho-style footballer. The current version of Cuadrado—lazy defender and plays hero balls in attack—is the antithesis of an archetypal Mourinho player.

These should be major red flags to Mourinho, so maybe he was not misleading the media—perhaps, he was telling the blunt truth.

"[Cuadrado] fits well in Fiorentina's squad and Colombia's squad," Mourinho said, per BBC Sport. "[But] not in Chelsea's squad."

+allanjiang.

When not specified, statistics via WhoScored.com.