Chelsea interested in Colombia star Cuadrado - report

So far this winter Chelsea's transfer rumours have mostly been based around losing Mohamed Salah or Andre Schurrle, but, as has been pointed out many times (including by Jose Mourinho), we'd need a replacement at inside forward before we'd sell either. In contention for trophies on four fronts, the Blues cannot afford to downgrade the team for cash this January.

In this context, it's frankly amazing that a rumour about Fiorentina's Juan Cuadrado hadn't appeared yet. Cuadrado, 26, has a very strong 2013-14 season and shone at the World Cup, is unsettled at his current club and has a release clause on his current deal. Granted, he hasn't been at his best so far this season, but that's explainable by the fact that he simply doesn't want to be there. He's the sort of player you'd expect Chelsea to be sniffing around this winter ... and lo and behold, we have a rumour.

It's a pretty weak one, mind -- it's basically one sentence from Di Marzio, who assert that Jose Mourinho is both interested and has been tracking Cuadrado since his time at Real Madrid -- but since it's a perfectly logical thing to be asking about, I wouldn't be shocked if it was true.

I'm not sure I'd want to go in on a €35 million buy for him right now, but that doesn't mean that it's not a deal worth exploring. At the very least, we have a rumour worth talking about.