Chelsea will be looking to rebuild after a disastrous season saw them finish in 10 th place. With Antonio Conte coming on, they have much to look forward for and he will be keen to add fresh faces to the squad. He will also be looking to offload certain players to have been consistently under performing or are surplus to requirements now. One player who definitely faces an uncertain future is Juan Cuadrado.
Having been signed from Fiorentina in January 2015 for an initial fee of £23.3 million pounds, the Colombian made his debut just 5 days later. However, he never really broke into the team making only four Premier League starts during which he didn’t play the full 90 even once. Although Mourinho kept insisting that Cuadrado should be given time as it is difficult to adjust from the Serie A to the Premier League, he eventually joined Juventus on a season long loan at the start of 2015-16.
Cuadrado now may be looking at a fresh start to life at Chelsea under the new manager. Conte had wanted to sign him while he was manager of Juventus. He would also fit in well to the 3-5- 2 formation the Italian likes to play as we saw this past season. Playing in the Serie A, he not only was threatening going forward, he tremendously improved his defensive abilities as well. As he likes to dribble and is good with the ball at his feet, he often draws a lot of fouls.
With the likes of Oscar and Pedro not really being able to live up to expectations, Cuadrado might be a perfect fit. The Chelsea squad definitely need someone to inject some life into their performances and that is something Cuadrado can provide, playing with a lot of energy. He will have to change his attitude, work hard and fight hard for his place in the squad though.
Earlier on in the season, the Telegraph had reported Cuadrado as saying that he wasn’t given enough opportunities at Chelsea and that he felt good being the “protagonist” at Juventus again. It’s no secret that the Bianconeri want to sign him on a permanent basis and it seems like the Colombian is happy to remain in Italy. So, although it is possible that he could turn out to be useful player under Conte for Chelsea, his reluctance to return to London might end his Chelsea career.