Conte wanted to sign Cuadrado himself when in charge of Juventus.
Chelsea manager Antonio Conte has confirmed that forward Juan Cuadrado will be part of his plans going forward despite the player spending last season on loan at Serie A Champions Juventus.
Cuadrado was signed midway through the 2014/15 season from Fiorentina but appeared to struggle during his six months around the first-team at Stamford Bridge, but Conte seems to be a fan of him.
Conte is quoted by Sky Sports, saying: “Juan Cuadrado is a Chelsea player. 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.”
The fact that Conte wanted him during his time at Juventus could offer some encouragement to Chelsea fans as he is a player that he has clearly watched closely and has an idea of the kind of role he could play for his side.
Whether that role is all together different to the one he envisaged at Juventus is something that only the Italian knows.
It will be interesting to see if was purely a case of not fitting into a side’s way of working when playing under Jose Mourinho or if the league itself may be a little too demanding.
In the season prior to his arrival at Stamford Bridge, he managed to find the net 15 times for Fiorentina in all competitions, and scored six goals in the six months spent in Serie A before making the move to West London.
Chelsea will be hoping the 28-year-old can return to that sort of form under their new manager.
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