Cuadrado deal is great business – Jose

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Chelsea’s latest signing Juan Cuadrado was a long-term target and a great bit of business, according to manager Jose Mourinho.

The Colombian winger, who can also play as an attacking midfielder or at full-back, joined for a fee that could rise to £26.8m, following the sale of Andre Schurrle to Wolfsburg.

Schurrle’s exit for a fee of around £22m paved the way for Cuadrado, 26, to join and saw a £4m profit on a player who only joined 18 months ago.

Mourinho said: “Juan is player we know for a long, long time.

“Schurrle is a player we like very much but the business is very, very good and we are happy with it. It is not a panic buy. It is a reaction to Schurrle.

“We are happy with the investment we did one-and-half years ago and we are happy with the profit we did in the window and hopefully Schurrle can have success in the future we like him very much.”

The Blues boss said Cuadrado, who signed on Monday, is in good enough condition to start against Aston Villa on Saturday, despite only training with his new club for two days.

But he said his new signing would be given time to adjust after his move from Fiorentina.

“I don’t think it is the best that I speak about expectations,” Mourinho added.

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