Chelsea Transfer News: Juan Cuadrado Fee Close, Latest Gonzalo Higuain Rumours

Chelsea and Juventus are reportedly close to agreeing a fee for winger Juan Cuadrado, but the Serie A giants do not want to commit to buying the Colombian until the end of the season.

Cuadrado is currently on a season-long loan at Juve having failed to settle with the Blues following his £23.3 million move from Fiorentina at the beginning of 2015.

Per Italian outlet Calciomercato (via Sport Witness), Cuadrado, 27, wants to stay at Juventus having excelled in Turin, and the two clubs are "very close" to agreeing a transfer fee of between €20 million (£14.2 million) and €22 million (£15.6 million).

However, the report also indicated that Juventus do not want to commit to buying him right away, but want to agree a fee and then wait until the end of the season to make their decision on whether to sign him permanently from Chelsea.

Cuadrado has netted once and provided three assists in Serie A this season and has been one of Juve's top performers in a difficult start to the new campaign, per WhoScored.com.

He was not given a great deal of opportunities in the second half of the 2014-15 season with Chelsea, making just four Premier League starts.

However, if both Cuadrado and Chelsea believe that he is not cut out for life at the west London club, then the Blues would do well to sell him on to Juventus and take a hit of less than £10 million.

The Blues could arguably do with a player in Cuadrado's form at the moment, and he is not the only one-time Chelsea player out-performing manager Jose Mourinho's current attacking options, per BreatheSport:

"

So far this season: Salah, Cuadrado, De Bruyne = 14 goals Oscar, Willian, Hazard = 7 goals pic.twitter.com/HSsde7kPlr

— BreatheSport (@BreatheSport) November 5, 2015"

Indeed, so poor have the defending champions been in the Premier League this term—they currently sit 16th having lost seven of their 12 matches—that Mourinho's future has been called into question, per Bleacher Report's Dean Jones:

Additions in the January transfer window are likely a certainty as Chelsea look to salvage their season.

The Blues are reportedly eager to sign a top striker to compete with and cover for the under-performing Diego Costa, and Napoli's Gonzalo Higuain is their No. 1 target, per Spanish outlet Fichajes (h/t Metro's George Bellshaw). 

The Argentine has been in fine form so far this season, netting nine times in 12 Serie A appearances, per WhoScored. 

He is undoubtedly the type of clinical finisher Chelsea need if they are to have any chance of making the top four this season, but it is unlikely that Napoli will be willing to sell Higuain half way through the campaign.