Can Juan Cuadrado Save His Chelsea Career Next Season?

When Juan Cuadrado arrived at Chelsea in January, Jose Mourinho was eager to appeal for patience.

“I don't think it's the best thing for him that I speak about expectations,” he explained. “He needs his time. He is not a panic buy. It's a reaction to [Andre] Schurrle's departure.”

We’ve seen bigger names struggle to adapt to the Premier League, but few have cut as lost and lonely a figure as Cuadrado since he joined Chelsea.

It seems like folly now, but the belief was that his arrival meant Willian’s position at Stamford Bridge was most at risk. If anything, it’s strengthened it.

Whereas Willian continues to be a key player for Mourinho, Cuadrado is looking frail, off the pace and completely out of his depth.

Since that £23.3 million transfer from Fiorentina, Cuadrado has been limited to a handful of starts for Chelsea, with brief cameos from the bench his best chance at action.

And every time he has looked an expensive mistake.

Mourinho may well have asked for time, but is time up on Cuadrado’s brief Chelsea career?

He’s been so poor that he faces a considerable fight to change the perception that he has weakened this Chelsea team.

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Schurrle’s replacement he may well have been, but the contrast between the two couldn’t be any greater.

The German’s form may have dipped enough for Mourinho to be tempted by the cash Wolfsburg put on the table for him, yet Schurrle was still an asset for Chelsea.

At his best he was a big goal threat, whether he was starting matches or appearing from the bench.

Schurrle scored a hat-trick against Fulham last season and not long after was the man who clawed Chelsea back into their Champions League tie with Paris Saint-Germain.

That goal at Stamford Bridge in the quarter-final was a demonstration of the value he gave Mourinho.

The Chelsea boss is famed for his ability to impact games from the touchline. He’s far from a tracksuit manager, yet Mourinho has built his reputation on adapting his strategy over the course of 90 minutes.

Mourinho likes to change things as the game develops. He’ll switch formations, move around his personnel and make substitutions at the right moments.

Chelsea are Premier League champions, although they haven’t been perfect. And if we can point the finger of criticism at the manager, it’s been his inability to pull off the latter of those qualities.

In big games, Mourinho has looked to his bench this year and found inspiration wanting.

He simply hasn’t had the personnel to change things and wrest back control.

Indeed, it’s apt to mention PSG and the swing in fortunes Chelsea experienced against Laurent Blanc’s men this term.

Last year it was the Blues dumping them out of Europe; in 2015, the tables had turned.

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There were many more reasons besides, but Chelsea looked lightweight against PSG this season. They didn’t look as strong in the key moments, which ultimately proved the difference.

With Eden Hazard being targeted and marked out of both games, Chelsea needed something else to get at the PSG defence and ask the sort of questions they had 12 months earlier.

Schurrle did that when he scored after coming off the bench at Stamford Bridge. When Mourinho looked to Cuadrado, he knew the Colombian wasn’t capable.

The whole stadium did.

In six months, Cuadrado’s reputation has taken a big hit. He arrived in the Premier League with fans reminiscing over his World Cup displays in a Colombia shirt; there was an appreciation of his ambition while wearing the Viola colours.

Regardless of the culture shock and a need to adapt, he has gone a long way to killing the myth that surrounded him.

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What we’ve seen since is a player incapable of wearing the champions tag Mourinho has proudly—and rightly—put on the rest of his squad.

Everything we thought we knew has disappeared, evaporated into the ether and beyond.

The fee to bring him to Stamford Bridge is no concern of Cuadrado’s. He had no control over it.

What he does control, however, is the ability to repay that faith the manager has shown in him.

To date, it’s been a sorry affair, and as we approach the final curtain of 2014/15, it can’t come down soon enough for Cuadrado.

The fear is whether he’ll be around when it’s lifted for 2015/16.

Things can’t get any worse, but can they get better for Cuadrado? Right now, it looks unlikely.

Garry Hayes is Bleacher Report's lead Chelsea correspondent. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter @garryhayes