Conte: "Cuadrado is Chelsea's player and he will stay with us."
Juventus and AC Milan have been given a set back in their pursuit for wide man Juan Cuadrado by none other than Juventus former coach Antonio Conte.
After Chelsea's first pre-season match of the summer ended in a 2-0 defeat, Conte spoke to the press and addressed the question surrounding Juan Cuadrado.
‘Juan Cuadrado is a Chelsea player,’ Conte said. ‘He will come back very soon. He’s in our squad, I’m very happy to have him and train him. I wanted him when I was a coach at Juventus and he will come back very soon and train and play with us. Now, he’s a Chelsea player and he’ll stay with us. If something changes you’ll know.’
Cuadrado spent last season on loan at Juventus where he regained his form that made Chelsea sign him from Fiorentina. Juventus have put in a bid for a 1 year old deal and a mandate to sign him at the end of 2016/17 season for a fee totalling €24m. Milan are interest stems from their new coach having worked with Cuadrado before, but they are awaiting a Chinese takeover before possibly submitting a bid, according to reports from Italy.
Cuadrado spoke yesterday to Colombian media about his situation.
"I must introduce myself with Chelsea, start the preseason there and wait for offers from any other club," said Cuadrado. "I'm grateful because Chelsea gave me the opportunity and if I have to stay, I will stay."
