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Juan Cuadrado to Chelsea .... Done!

JMaher94
in General Chelsea FC

Featured Replies

Don't remember this guy from the world cup, think he may have been over shadowed by James. So beyond a few you tube clips I have nothing to Base opinion on. What we do need is conpetion up there. At are best we could choose between, duff, Robben and Cole would all compete for two places and all where capable of getting goals and asissits..

Big Willian fan but you do get the feeling we are going to need something else to get over the line this season... Some one with that little bit of x factor

Edited by barak81

Someone post the necessary but so deceiving youtube-compilation of Kalouda's best moments.

I know there is a Kalouda but I meant the hybrid of two of our not-most-loved wingers. At last the genetic research has taken the necessary steps.

yeah he does look very good and had a good WC, but I think it will be very hard for him to be able to get back and forth like willian! he is usually exceptional, unfortunately he just lacks the finish.

@eurosportmoves: Fiorentina winger Juan Cuadrado expected to fly to London on Thursday night for a medical on Friday morning before signing for Chelsea.

@eurosportmoves: BREAKING: Reports in Italy suggest a deal has been reached that will see Juan Cuadrado leave Fiorentina for Chelsea. Fee in region of £25m.

I'm undecided on this one, I think he is a very talented winger, however I'm not entirely convinced he is a significant improvement on Willian. It's worth noting that my experience of him is mostly from the World Cup (hardly the highest standard of football today) and from my limited knowledge of Fiorentina.

 

In some ways Willian and Cuadrado are very similar players. They are both very solid defensively, evidenced by the fact that both can play at wing-back in a pinch, although Willian is perhaps more inclined towards the heroic tackle following a lung-busting sprint. Both have pace and stamina to burn - if I wasn't so terrified of becoming clichéd, I would describe them as 'dynamic'.

 

Both players are incredibly versatile, and are capable of playing in any capacity behind the striker, although I would argue that Willian is more comfortable directly behind the striker whereas Cuadrado is a more natural wide man; Cuadrado provides a lot more width when attacking the flank whereas I think Willian is more inclined to pass it early or wait for an opportunity to run into space behind the midfield. In addition, despite generally playing different formations, both Chelsea and Fiorentina tend to attack more down the left, with Willian/Cuadrado on the more reserved side, although the latter has spent the majority of this season playing behind Babacar, then Mario Gomez following his return from injury.

 

Both are probably equally excellent dribblers, however Cuadrado puts his abilities to greater effect. The debate on Willian's questionable end product has been played out time and time again on the forum and probably doesn't need further elaboration. Cuadrado is clearly an improvement in this regard: he scored eleven goals in Serie A alone last season - Willian has never scored more than five in the league. That said, I don't think Cuadrado is significantly better in his decision-making. His crossing and passing aren't really any better than Willian's, I also remember him ruining a potentially beautiful counter attack started by James Rodriguez against Brazil by passing the ball straight to the centre back when an obvious option was available. That said, I would argue he is probably the more aggressive and daring attacker (achieves more yet also loses possession more often), which is perhaps the main difference between them.

 

This is shown in the outrageous amount that Cuadrado seems to get fouled - he alone wins on average five free kicks per game, which is significantly more than anyone else in Serie A, and significantly more even than the Premier League's most fouled player (Hazard with three fouls p/g). With our set piece quality, both direct (Fabregas, Oscar, Willian himself) and indirect (Terry, Ivanovic, Cahill, Zouma...), this could be the most significant addition he brings to the side. Chelsea have already scored more goals from set pieces than anyone else in the league, and this will help us immeasurably whether we are struggling to break down a deep-lying defence or if we are sitting deep ourselves against higher-quality opponents - either way Cuadrado should be able to make himself useful.

 

To conclude, Cuadrado is probably an improvement on Willian, but not a massive one. Defensively they are similar (although I would argue that Willian edges it), both provide something different to Schurrle, but Cuadrado will likely bring more goals and more set pieces than Willian. We are already a strong side, and margins of quality at the top are razor thin; perhaps a small improvement is all we need. We certainly do not want to get into the Real Madrid habit of thinking we need a Galactico in every position. I would welcome his signing but equally wouldn't be too concerned if we missed out - regardless, I am glad that this decision is not mine to make.

Willian on the right wing is the equivalent of Antonio Valencia for me, perhaps slightly better. When Valencia tries to kick the ball ahead and put in a low cross, Willian does his one step over move and tries the same thing, usually to the same effect. Although I haven't seen much of Cuadrado, from what I have seen, I believe that he is a far, far more inventive winger. 

 

As for selling Schurrle, I like him but I don't think he's ever going to really be good enough for us. The biggest argument for keeping him seems to be that he offers something different. Well in Cuadrado I hope we may just have the player who offers us the technical attributes of Willian, the pace and dribbling of Salah and the movement and goal scoring of Schurrle.

Edited by footballoholic

Rumours all over the shop 

 

1) We've paid his buy out clause and he's ours

2) We can't buy him until we sell Schurrle

3) Salah is NOT part of the deal

4) Salah IS part of the deal

5) Salah will go the other way, but only on loan.

 

 

Take your pick

Edited by mad_mac

Rumors going around that Salah will go the other way in this deal.

Can't see it, Schurrle has gone. Unless were bringing Costa in as well which seems unlikely, it would leave us one short. Unless Jose will use Remy wide, which he has done recently.

Edited by middleweight

More Italian reports saying he is in the deal (salah) than not.  Starting to look like both he and Schurrle will be out.  Kicker and BILD, aswell as dimarzio all reporting Schurrle to Wolfsburg more or less done, 27m euro

More Italian reports saying he is in the deal (salah) than not.  Starting to look like both he and Schurrle will be out.  Kicker and BILD, aswell as dimarzio all reporting Schurrle to Wolfsburg more or less done, 27m euro

Interesting, Remy on the left it is then. I think i like the idea of that

I'm undecided on this one, I think he is a very talented winger, however I'm not entirely convinced he is a significant improvement on Willian. It's worth noting that my experience of him is mostly from the World Cup (hardly the highest standard of football today) and from my limited knowledge of Fiorentina.

 

In some ways Willian and Cuadrado are very similar players. They are both very solid defensively, evidenced by the fact that both can play at wing-back in a pinch, although Willian is perhaps more inclined towards the heroic tackle following a lung-busting sprint. Both have pace and stamina to burn - if I wasn't so terrified of becoming clichéd, I would describe them as 'dynamic'.

 

Both players are incredibly versatile, and are capable of playing in any capacity behind the striker, although I would argue that Willian is more comfortable directly behind the striker whereas Cuadrado is a more natural wide man; Cuadrado provides a lot more width when attacking the flank whereas I think Willian is more inclined to pass it early or wait for an opportunity to run into space behind the midfield. In addition, despite generally playing different formations, both Chelsea and Fiorentina tend to attack more down the left, with Willian/Cuadrado on the more reserved side, although the latter has spent the majority of this season playing behind Babacar, then Mario Gomez following his return from injury.

 

Both are probably equally excellent dribblers, however Cuadrado puts his abilities to greater effect. The debate on Willian's questionable end product has been played out time and time again on the forum and probably doesn't need further elaboration. Cuadrado is clearly an improvement in this regard: he scored eleven goals in Serie A alone last season - Willian has never scored more than five in the league. That said, I don't think Cuadrado is significantly better in his decision-making. His crossing and passing aren't really any better than Willian's, I also remember him ruining a potentially beautiful counter attack started by James Rodriguez against Brazil by passing the ball straight to the centre back when an obvious option was available. That said, I would argue he is probably the more aggressive and daring attacker (achieves more yet also loses possession more often), which is perhaps the main difference between them.

 

This is shown in the outrageous amount that Cuadrado seems to get fouled - he alone wins on average five free kicks per game, which is significantly more than anyone else in Serie A, and significantly more even than the Premier League's most fouled player (Hazard with three fouls p/g). With our set piece quality, both direct (Fabregas, Oscar, Willian himself) and indirect (Terry, Ivanovic, Cahill, Zouma...), this could be the most significant addition he brings to the side. Chelsea have already scored more goals from set pieces than anyone else in the league, and this will help us immeasurably whether we are struggling to break down a deep-lying defence or if we are sitting deep ourselves against higher-quality opponents - either way Cuadrado should be able to make himself useful.

 

To conclude, Cuadrado is probably an improvement on Willian, but not a massive one. Defensively they are similar (although I would argue that Willian edges it), both provide something different to Schurrle, but Cuadrado will likely bring more goals and more set pieces than Willian. We are already a strong side, and margins of quality at the top are razor thin; perhaps a small improvement is all we need. We certainly do not want to get into the Real Madrid habit of thinking we need a Galactico in every position. I would welcome his signing but equally wouldn't be too concerned if we missed out - regardless, I am glad that this decision is not mine to make.

 

Great post.

 

I agree with you.  When i look at cuadrado he reminds me of willian but a bit more courageous and with more end product.  I think that he is more likely to do something that will impact a game and give you an 8,9 out of 10 but then other times he will just lose the ball or try to dribble too much and get a 6 out of 10.  Willian on the other hand will get a 7 out of 10 week in, week out.

 

I am all for the signing.  I believe we need depth and with Cuadrado starting, Willian would be great to come of the bench or rotate at either RW or AMC.  Some people may be underwhelmed by this signing saying he might just be another Willian level quality player but to that i say "so what?" 

 

Firstly imagine a starting eleven that is not downgraded by having Cuadrado and is actually slightly more potent offensively.  Now imagine a semi final against Real Madrid and Cuadrado is injured or suspended.  You have Schurrle on current form or Ramires who has to play out of position.  How confident do you feel.  Now imagine you have the choice of playing Willian on the right or in the centre.  How confident do you feel.  To me that is what Willian gives me when i see his name on the teamsheet - confidence.  At the moment i dread if one of our starting eleven gets injured because i think our depth isn't that great, but if we signed Cuadrado, that would change.

 

On top of that, It's harder than you think to upgrade Willian, what we'd actually be doing is upgrading massively on Salah and providing Jose with more options. 

 

Let's look at the players who are out there that are definitely better than Willian.  

 

Reus

Ronaldo

Bale

Isco

Neymar

Robben

Ribery

Sterling

Gotze

Di Maria

Sanchez

 

Sanchez we missed the boat on for the price Arsenal got him.  Ribery and Robben although great are both 31.

None of the others are available except for Reus and if they were they would each cost 40-50m+

 

I understand people want Reus but i just think that if he was not Real bound he would arguably be here already.  He's the perfect Jose type player.  I think his agent has probably told other clubs that he's heading to Real.

 

So that leads to Cuadrado, arguably the best winger not on the above list.  Affordable and available and in my opinion better than both Schurrle and Salah.  It's a no brainer.

 

As for Schurrle, for me he is not good enough to demand a starting spot in this Chelsea XI.  He's at his best when there is space and defences are stretched but many times we come up against parked buses and his lack of technique in small spaces stands out.  People keep saying that he will improve but i don't see it.  His performance in the world cup final is brought up all the time but what people fail to say is that a)he didn't start the game and the reasons for this and b) his magical play happened in extra time when the game was more stretched and defenders tired.  I'm all for keeping him as a rotation player to be brought on at certain times that suit his style of play.

 

One last thing.  Teams overload their right hand side against us to try to thwart Hazard.  When the ball gets switched to our right, Willian is often one on one against a defender and many times he dwells on the ball or can't get past the player.  Put Cuadrado in that same situation and i think he would be able to take on his man and create many more chances.  It would make Chelsea much more difficult to defend against.

Disappointed if Schurrle leaves but it looks likely. Cuadrado can rotate with Willian and whoever deserves the spot will get it. Hopefully it'll be less of a "Schurrle is doing crap so Willian gets the spot" situation, but more of a playing on merit situation.

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