Chelsea ready to sell Juan Cuadrado for the right price
José Mourinho will have no hesitation in putting an end to Juan
Cuadrado’s unimpressive spell at Chelsea but will not take anything less
than the £26.1m paid to Fiorentina in January.
Cuadrado, 27, has failed to settle at Stamford Bridge following his arrival from Italy and the Colombian international has been agitating for a move in recent weeks, with Juventus retaining an interest in his signature.
Along with his compatriot Radamel Falcao, the winger is set to join up with the Chelsea squad in New York before the game against the NY Red Bulls on Wednesday, the first of their three-match North American tour.
Mourinho has not spoken to Cuadrado since the end of the domestic season yet knows the noises emanating from South America must not be discounted. He has strong options in wide midfield positions with Eden Hazard, Willian, Victor Moses and the highly rated Burkino Faso international Bertrand Traoré, so would be open to moving Cuadrado on, providing the price is right.
A departure could force the manager into buying a like-for-like addition to his squad but there will be no move for Barcelona’s Pedro, who is a target for Manchester United.
The Brazilian full-back Filipe LuÃs, 29, is poised to return to Atlético Madrid, a year after arriving for £15.8m. If he leaves, Chelsea want Augsburg’s Abdul Rahman Baba.
As with the sale of Cuadrado, Mourinho, who is also preparing to allow Mohamed Salah to depart, wants to assure the owner, Roman Abramovich, there will not be any money lost.
“If they want him back then they have to pay and we have to discuss the offer,” he said of LuÃs, who made only nine Premier League starts but would be forced to take a pay cut if a return to La Liga materialises. “Then we have to react and we have to go in the market.
“I see Salah’s future elsewhere, either as a loan or an offer that we are happy to accept. At the moment, with
Hazard and Willian, Traoré, Moses and Cuadrado, we have five players for these positions. It is better not to have so many.”
Falcao’s arrival has excited Mourinho who is adamant the striker will be able to rediscover the form that saw him score goals in Spain and Portugal.
He was left in little doubt about his suitability following discussions with defensive partners John Terry and Gary Cahill, who both enthused about the 29-year-old’s movement in Manchester United’s 1-0 defeat to Chelsea in April.
“I spoke with John and Cahill a lot about him and we think the bright movement is there, the movement to get freedom in the box to score goals is there,” Mourinho said of Falcao, who is unlikely to figure against the Red Bulls or PSG in Charlotte and will instead have a short run out against Barcelona in Washington DC on Tuesday 28 July.
Mourinho added: “Our players had difficulty to control him and we feel the potential is there. Let’s see if he can improve his confidence, his happiness. We believe that now he has already played a season in the Premier League, he could be a different player.”
Diego Costa, Falcao’s former team-mate at Atlético Madrid, remains Chelsea’s main striker yet Mourinho is keen to shuffle his pack. “He can be second, first or third choice,” he said. “He knows, Diego knows and Loïc Rémy knows that. It is open competition between the three of them. That’s our objective, that’s why we want three strikers ready and important.
“Last season Rémy was basically the third forward but he scored so many important goals for us in crucial moments that gave us crucial points – the goal against Hull City, the goal against Stoke. Falcao is not happy that in England people think he is not as good as he is. That’s his motivation.”
Cuadrado, 27, has failed to settle at Stamford Bridge following his arrival from Italy and the Colombian international has been agitating for a move in recent weeks, with Juventus retaining an interest in his signature.
Along with his compatriot Radamel Falcao, the winger is set to join up with the Chelsea squad in New York before the game against the NY Red Bulls on Wednesday, the first of their three-match North American tour.
Mourinho has not spoken to Cuadrado since the end of the domestic season yet knows the noises emanating from South America must not be discounted. He has strong options in wide midfield positions with Eden Hazard, Willian, Victor Moses and the highly rated Burkino Faso international Bertrand Traoré, so would be open to moving Cuadrado on, providing the price is right.
A departure could force the manager into buying a like-for-like addition to his squad but there will be no move for Barcelona’s Pedro, who is a target for Manchester United.
The Brazilian full-back Filipe LuÃs, 29, is poised to return to Atlético Madrid, a year after arriving for £15.8m. If he leaves, Chelsea want Augsburg’s Abdul Rahman Baba.
As with the sale of Cuadrado, Mourinho, who is also preparing to allow Mohamed Salah to depart, wants to assure the owner, Roman Abramovich, there will not be any money lost.
“If they want him back then they have to pay and we have to discuss the offer,” he said of LuÃs, who made only nine Premier League starts but would be forced to take a pay cut if a return to La Liga materialises. “Then we have to react and we have to go in the market.
“I see Salah’s future elsewhere, either as a loan or an offer that we are happy to accept. At the moment, with
Hazard and Willian, Traoré, Moses and Cuadrado, we have five players for these positions. It is better not to have so many.”
Falcao’s arrival has excited Mourinho who is adamant the striker will be able to rediscover the form that saw him score goals in Spain and Portugal.
He was left in little doubt about his suitability following discussions with defensive partners John Terry and Gary Cahill, who both enthused about the 29-year-old’s movement in Manchester United’s 1-0 defeat to Chelsea in April.
“I spoke with John and Cahill a lot about him and we think the bright movement is there, the movement to get freedom in the box to score goals is there,” Mourinho said of Falcao, who is unlikely to figure against the Red Bulls or PSG in Charlotte and will instead have a short run out against Barcelona in Washington DC on Tuesday 28 July.
Mourinho added: “Our players had difficulty to control him and we feel the potential is there. Let’s see if he can improve his confidence, his happiness. We believe that now he has already played a season in the Premier League, he could be a different player.”
Diego Costa, Falcao’s former team-mate at Atlético Madrid, remains Chelsea’s main striker yet Mourinho is keen to shuffle his pack. “He can be second, first or third choice,” he said. “He knows, Diego knows and Loïc Rémy knows that. It is open competition between the three of them. That’s our objective, that’s why we want three strikers ready and important.
“Last season Rémy was basically the third forward but he scored so many important goals for us in crucial moments that gave us crucial points – the goal against Hull City, the goal against Stoke. Falcao is not happy that in England people think he is not as good as he is. That’s his motivation.”
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