Chelsea Set To Fend Off Late Interest From Man Utd To Sign €35m Attacker

With the January transfer window coming to a close, managers are frantically trying to tie-up those late deals and strengthen their squads ahead of the second half of the season, so we’ll bring you all the latest news and gossip. Today, Chelsea are closing in on Man Utd target Juan Cuadrado….

Chelsea look set to fend off late interest from Manchester United to sign Juan Caudrado after agreeing to meet the attackers €35m release clause, according to reports today.

The Blues have been strongly linked with Cuadrado this month as Jose Mourinho looks to bring in a replacement for want-away attacker Andre Schurrle, but so far the West Londoners have been reluctant to meet Fiorentina’s €35m (£26.2m) asking price.

Speculation earlier this week suggested that Manchester United were set to try and hijack Chelsea’s attempts to sign Cuadrado with Louis van Gaal willing to offer Fiorentina Adnan Januzaj as part exchange for the Colombian international.

However, it seems this late interest from United may have forced Chelsea into action as the Mirror are reporting today that Mourinho has now agreed to meet Cuadrado’s €35m release fee and will try and push through a deal before this weekend so he would be eligible to face Manchester City on Saturday evening.

The Daily Mail claim that the Blues will sell Schurrle to either Wolfsburg or Borussia Dortmund for£30m in order to raise the necessary funds to buy the 26-year-old, with almost £60m set to exchange hands over the coming days.

It’s certainly gearing up to be a busy end to the winter window at Chelsea and it looks inevitable that Schurrle will be heading back to Germany to make way for the arrival of Cuadrado at Stamford Bridge.

There is still time for United to try and scupper things, but as it stands Chelsea’s interest appears more concrete and they are in pole position to wrap up a deal for the exciting attacker.

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Cuadrado is predominantly a right winger but is capable of playing anywhere across the front three positions and can even play at right-back, so his versatility is sure to have appealed to Mourinho.

They’ll need to move fast if they do want him available to face City this weekend as Cuadrado would have to be registered with the FA by noon on Friday, but even if they miss that deadline I’m sure Chelsea fans would be delighted with the signing.