Chelsea's Juan Cuadrado close to joining Juventus on season-long loanLast Updated: 23/08/15 5:40pm
Chelsea forward Juan Cuadrado is on the verge of joining Juventus on a season-long loan.
Sky Sports reported earlier this week that Juventus were interested in the 27-year-old as their third choice for a new attacking-midfield player.
It is understood Cuadrado was of interest if they could not get hold of Schalke's Julian Draxler or Borussia Dortmund's Henrikh Mkhitaryan – and Juventus chief executive Giuseppe Marotta admitted their difficulty in finding an agreement for either player on Sunday.
And Marotta also revealed that the club were therefore close to bringing in Cuadrado.
Marotta said: "We took the opportunity, it is all done and we hope it to be official tomorrow. It will be a loan for the season.
"It was discussed and agreed with [manager] Massimo Allegri. We work on the market in complete harmony with him."We have had difficult negotiations with Schalke for Draxler. We will see the opportunity but, at the moment, there is veto from Schalke. It's a difficult task, but we'll see by the end of the market."
Cuadrado has struggled to make an impact at Chelsea since joining the club in a £26.1m deal in January this year.
The Colombia international has made just four Premier League starts and 15 appearances overall, failing to score in any competition.Chelsea also secured the signing of Pedro from Barcelona this week, and he thrived in the attacking-right position, scoring the first and setting up the second in a 3-2 win at West Brom on his debut.
http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/9962929/chelseas-juan-cuadrado-close-to-joining-juventus-on-season-long-loan