As is normally the case during transfer seasons, reports have emerged from Florence that Fiorentina have received several enquiries for winger Juan Cuadrado, the club confirmed as much.
The Colombian winger was one of the stars of his country’s run to the quarter finals of the World Cup were they eventually lost to Brazil. The versatile 26 year old is reportedly worth in the region of £30 million.
The Co-owner of Fiorentina Andrea Della Valle confirmed the interest in the Colombian winger thus:
“When he comes back to us in a couple of weeks we will see if he shows his willingness to continue in Florence and if he still has the necessary motivation to stay with us.”
“It’s a tricky situation, as half of Europe are knocking on his door.”
The statement above does have some measure of exaggeration to it with his use of the word “half of Europe” being interested in him.
Going by how he was been linked to Arsenal during the World Cup on a daily basis, it doesn’t need a sage to determine that Arsenal would have been part of those club that the co-owner was referring to.
However, going by his price tag it would have been improbable that Arsenal would have really considered signing him. Although, his versatility could play into the hands of any manager as he can feature in multiple areas of the pitch ranging from right back, left and right wing and in central midfield.
For a player who has largely featured for middle table clubs in Seria A since 2009, (Udinese, Lecce(loan) and now Fiorentina) it would be interesting to see how he develops and adapt to the environment in a bigger club.
Despite the fleet footed nature of the Colombian, his decision making can sometimes be frustrating as he showed several times at the World Cup, delaying passes, running into blind aisles, poor decision making and unnecessary dribbling when the safe option would have been a simple pass to a team mate. With this in mind and a player that is already 26, such attributes could be difficult to drum out of him.
With the talk from Fiorentina that half of Europe is interest in him, it could just be a ploy to firm up interest in him after all, as James Rodriguez and David Ospina who are both Colombians that starred at the World Cup have been subject of concrete bids.
The Fiorentina hierarchy might be trying to light up a flame in the absence a concrete interest from any club as several baulks on the price tag of the winger.
