Manchester United Receives Encouragement In Chase For £32m Defender

Juan Cuadrado, the Colombia and Fiorentina winger is becoming available to Manchester United as another transfer window opens in January. Manchester United would reportedly resume their interest in the 26-year-old winger after learning that his Italian club, Fiorentina have fallen short of the player’s wage demand. Fiorentina are unwilling to match the Colombian’s £2.35m-a-year demand for wages. Manchester United was put off by the fact that the player had been locked in talks of a contract extension which may have stalled due to the player’s wage demands. Fiorentina is reportedly willing to offer the player £1.5m-a-year and this development would interest Manchester United and probably Barcelona, two clubs on the winger’s trail after a very good 2014 FIFA World Cup performance in Brazil in June/July.

Cuadrado’s pace and dribbling skills would be coveted by any team as his contribution to forward play is evident in the Colombian national team and Fiorentina. Cuadrado started his senior career at Independiente Medellin in Colombia, where he caught the eyes of scouts from Italy in 2009. He began his time in Europe at Udinese, where he signed a five year deal. He however saw limited playing time at the club and was sent on loan to Lecce in 2011. He impressed at Lecce and was said to be Lecce player with most dribbles that season but the club finished 18^th on the log and got relegated. Cuadrado went back to Udinese the following season and was sold to Fiorentina in the summer of 2012, where he became an important member of the squad that finished 4^th in the Italian Serie A. Personally, he finished the season with 5 goals and 6 assists. Since then, Juan Cuadrado had been a household name in the Italian Serie A with him ranking amongst the best of the players.

Manchester United would have to cough up fees in the range of about £32m to land the player and this should be no problem at all for the Old Trafford side that just signed a very lucrative kit deal with Adidas. Cuadrado would add pace and skill to the Manchester United wings as the Red Devils have had to depend on new signing Angel Di Maria, Ashley Young and Antonio Valencia on the wings of attack this season. To think that Manchester United would still sign more players in January is a very exciting one for the fans of the Red Devils. Manchester United signed Angel Di Maria, Radamel Falcao on a season long loan deal, Marcos Rojo, Daley Blind, Ander Herrera and Luke Shaw in an accumulated approximate fee of £150m in the summer and many fans of the club wouldn’t feel bad if no other signings are done in the winter. But it doesn’t seem the Louis Van Gaal’s Manchester United led side are done just yet in the transfer window.

Juan Cuadrado, also being trailed by Barcelona , according to reports, had a beautiful showing at the 2014 FIFA World Cup held in Brazil alongside teammates James Rodriguez, David Ospina Juan Fernando Quintero, Teofilo Gutierrez, Jackson Martinez and Carlos Bacca. It is now left to be seen if Cuadrado would accept Fiorentina’s offer or jump on the boat that leads to Manchester, the theatre of dreams!