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Reports in England are suggesting that Chelsea are, indeed, interested in moving one (or both) of Mohamed Salah and Andre Schurrle as long as they can find an adequate replacement. Those same reports are claiming that FIorentina's Juan Cuadrado is that man:
Chelsea’s January bid for Cuadrado is very much dependent on either or both of Salah and Schürrle leaving this month. Should the pair stay at Stamford Bridge, then the Colombian’s move will be delayed until the end of the season.
Cuadrado was named in Fiorentina’s starting line-up for their Copa Italia game against Atlanta on Wednesday night, which underlined the fact the Italian club are willing to hold out for the full £26.8million release clause that is in his contract.
Sources in Italy claim Cuadrado’s agent is due in London for talks with Chelsea over the 26-year-old who finished the World Cup with the most assists – equal with Germany’s Toni Kroos.
I'd assume that these Italian sources aren't the type that go 'BOOM', as that sort of thing even seems like a stretch for publications like The Daily Star or The Metro. While Fiorentina would almost certainly prefer to delay any deal until the summer, adding Cuadrado to the squad sooner rather than later would almost certainly benefit the Blues. If we're willing to activate his release clause, I'd assume a deal gets done now, even if the subsequent move is simply a loan spell for Salah.
Knowing this, I'd imagine we'd see Fiorentina be willing to budge a bit on his price, assuming that the Blues are willing to let him remain in Italy until the season comes to an end. We saw a similar situation with DIego Costa last season, where Atletico made the transfer as painless as possible in the summer, when they could have let the situation turn into a bit of a nightmare.
Regardless, it's starting to sound like Mourinho and company have identified a future target, and given their track record of late, it's hard to find too much to criticize.