Chelsea have completed the signing of Juan Cuadrado from Fiorentina in a deal that could cost the Premier League leaders €35.5 million, the largest fee paid by an English club in the mid-winter transfer window.
The Colombia forward is understood to have signed a four-and-a-half-year contract having passed a medical on Monday, with the 26-year-old's arrival rubber-stamped only once Chelsea smoothed the departures of André Schürrle and Mohamed Salah.
Salah has moved to Fiorentina on a six-month loan deal – with an option to join permanently if he impresses – after completing his own medical tests in London, while the Germany international has returned to the Bundesliga with Wolfsburg.
The complicated nature of the three deals had seen negotiations drag over the weekend and into deadline day with Chelsea seeking to fund their move for Cuadrado through Schürrle’s sale with one eye on complying with Uefa’s financial fair play regulations.
The fee for the World Cup winner is understood to be an initial €31.8 million with potential add-ons, with the player to earn around €110,000-a-week over a four-and-a-half-year contract as he is reunited with his former Chelsea team-mate Kevin de Bruyne at the club second in the Bundesliga.
It is a fee only dwarfed this window by Manchester City’s €37 million purchase of Wilfried Bony and adds to the already impressive attacking options at Jose Mourinho’s disposal.
“I am very happy and thankful for this opportunity I’ve been given,” Cuadrado told the club’s official website, www.chelseafc.com.
“This is a great club and honestly it is like a dream to join the Chelsea family and to know that the manager believes in me. I’m happy.”
Cuadrado arrives at Stamford Bridge after five-and-a-half years in Italy, having first joined Udinese from Independiente Medellin.
The attacking midfielder, capped 37 times by his country, moved onto Fiorentina in 2012 after a loan spell at Lecce before today moving to the Premier League.
Cuadrado has already thanked Fiorentina’s fans for their support over his time with them. “Florence will always be in my heart,” he said. “The people are extraordinary. The fans full of passion. The Viola launched my career and gave me the opportunity to grow also thanks to a great club and exceptional team-mates. Now a new journey awaits me. New emotions. New objective. But always with Florence in my heart.”
