Juan Cuadrado

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

Another underrated aspect of his game is his movement off the ball.

[GodZola 630]

I'm a little surprised at some of the concerns posted about this lad signing for us, their views might prove to be correct but at least give the boy time to show his worth in a 'Chelsea shirt' first before being hung out to dry!

Think some of our performance's in the last 6 weeks or so have been a little flat, so I'm more hoping that his inclusion will provide a spark to inject some life back in to our play.

No one can be sure what José has in mind, however my feeling is that he will have different options available to him now and by that I mean he can shuffle players around tactically with more confidence & rest or drop under performing players, where as I don't believe he could do it with Shirley or what we have now.

Personally like to see Hazard in behind Costa, Juan & Will.I.am on the flanks, Fab & Matic in mid & Oscar benched, full on attack to rip the arse out of teams.......well live in hope!

[Henrique 9,133]

So was Andre and so wasn't hazard...

I'm seeing this deal as a pretty expensive bet.

Unlike getting millions for the extremely limited Bertrand - good deal.

André was far from a beast. He had a decent WC, and thats it.

Cuadrado was and is miles ahead of Xurli.

[Henrique 9,133]

The amount of stupid things in this topic is abusive.

[robsblubot 3,528]

André was far from a beast. He had a decent WC, and thats it.

Cuadrado was and is miles ahead of Xurli.

Couldn't disagree more. CUadrado did well indeed, but Colombia played shitty teams in the WC group stage and were knocked out by a mediocre Brazil - game was dominated by brazil unlike chiles.

Andre shone in the freaking final with the assist. Diminishing that accomplishment makes no sense to me.

[OneMoSalah 8,783]

All of our last 3 big signings (Costa, Cesc, Matić) have hit the ground running in spectacular fashion. If Cuadrado does as well we're in for a treat for the rest of the season.

I'm so excited to see the variations José will put out. So many options and possibilities!

Jose? Variations? It will be the same team but Cuadrado for Willian.

[didierforever 7,349]

Jose? Variations? It will be the same team but Cuadrado for Willian.

lets hope its willian thru the center and cuadrado on the right while oscar gets whats coming to him for a looonnnnnngggg time.

[Special Juan 27,439]

lets hope its willian thru the center and cuadrado on the right while oscar gets whats coming to him for a looonnnnnngggg time.

I have said it for some time now, Oscar needs to raise game in a huge way or he will be going the same way as Andre if he continues.

[bethos1 802]

I've seen this guy play twice so I have no idea what he's capable of. I really hope he's the RW we've been looking for.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

The amount of stupid things in this topic is abusive.

Please enlighten us and guide us to the only truth, oh omniscient one!

[Stingray 9,441]

Please enlighten us and guide us to the only truth, oh omniscient one!

[The Mak 4,459]

André was far from a beast. He had a decent WC, and thats it.

Cuadrado was and is miles ahead of Xurli.

Uh-oh.

Henrique is making yet another baseless prediction, we all know what that means...

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

50-50 people who write him off already and whom think he will be a hit. Remind me of Willian signing.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

Chelsea new boy Juan Cuadrado settling into London life with Arsenal keeper David Ospina's help (despite the club rivalry!)

• Chelsea's Juan Cuadrado took to Instagram to thank Arsenal's David Ospina for helping his settle into London life following his £27million move
• The winger could feature on Saturday against struggling Aston Villa

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2940942/Chelsea-new-boy-Juan-Cuadrado-settling-London-life-help-Arsenal-s-David-Ospina-despite-club-rivalry.html

[Henrique 9,133]

Uh-oh.

Henrique is making yet another baseless prediction, we all know what that means...

I predicted players like Kakuta, Xurli, Salah, Lukaku, Torres and KDB would never make it here.

[Henrique 9,133]

Please enlighten us and guide us to the only truth, oh omniscient one!

I understand your frustration mate. Its not easy when our favorite player leave the club.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

I understand your frustration mate. Its not easy when our favorite player leave the club.

JT is gone?! Damn! I did not see that one coming!

Funny thing, I honestly still don't know what your opinion about Cuadrado is, but I do find your usual blind condescending attitude entertaining

[Bir_CFC 3,455]

Like many here I hadn't really watched him play carefully before. And it's hard to trust people in this forum considering most just look at youtube and/or whoscored and form an opinion.

So instead, I downloaded full matches of Colombia during the world cup and watched them with my eyes solely focused on Cuadrado.

Here's what I think of him:

1. Dribbling - easily the 2nd best dribbler in our team now after Hazard, he can definitely beat a man or more. His dribbling style differs from Hazard as he relies on his quick first dribble, body feints, change of direction and then pace to get by his man. He utilizes a lot of feints when on the ball to get the defender off balance and if successful, utilizes his pace to just blow by them.
2. Pace - lots of pace, and he knows how to use it.
3. Close ball control - better than Schurrle, but not as good as Hazard or Willian. I'd say similar to Oscar, maybe slightly worse. His close ball control in tight spaces is a bit hit and miss, some come off, but he tends to lose possession often due to difficulty keeping the ball under pressure.
4. Passing - his general short passing is nothing special, whenever he gets the ball, his first thought is to take on his man and if he's not confident of getting by him, just a safe pass back or sideways (Hazard does this a lot too)
5. Crossing - good crosser, has great shape on his crosses, reminds me of Filipe's crosses similar how he whips em in
6. Corners/Set-pieces - he's got great corners and set-piece delivery, not as good as Cesc, but definitely better than Willian.
7. Free-kicks - has a very powerful shot, I see him take over the similar types of free-kicks Andre took at times, long distance straight on.
8. Vision - i don't feel comfortable judging this yet, I haven't watched enough to say good or bad here
9. Off-ball movement - good movement, looks to play 1-2s often and is a willing runner on the flanks, doesn't get into the box as much as Oscar or Schurrle but definitely more than Willian
10. Strength - not very strong, goes down too easily for the PL. He gets fouled a lot, but he's going to suffer like Hazard where he'll get those calls in Europe but not in the PL. He'll lose a lot of possession where he'll get slightly fouled, he'll go down and get no call. He'll need to get stronger and stay on his feet cause I see this as his biggest weakness. Hazard, Willian know how to ride a challenge and keep going, Cuadrado isn't on that level. He'll need to learn how to ride challenges and keep going.
11. Shooting - powerful shot, that's all I'm comfortable with right now. Haven't seen enough to say good or bad.
12. Defending - he's very much willing to track his man all the back but he isn't the best 1 on 1 defender, so unlike Willian he'll need Ivan to stay home for cover. But then again, if he's facing fullbacks more often, his main job would be to stop the cross, which he is good at. Overall, much better than Schurrle but not even on the same planet as Willian (no other AM is really).

If there's something I missed, let me know and I can speak to it as well.

Overall, definitely an upgrade on Schurrle imo. Very direct, much more than anyone else in the team. His first thought is always to beat him man and just run into the box to take a shot or get an assist. When he's on, he'll be very dangerous against everyone. We just need to get him 1 on 1 as much as possible because under pressure he is very much prone to losing the ball.