Arsenal have reportedly failed with an opening attempt to sign Juan Cuadrado from Juventus in the summer transfer window. The talented winger sealed his permanent move to the Old Lady last month after they triggered the buy option on his loan contract from Chelsea.
The 29-year-old has been in and out of the starting lineup for Juventus in recent seasons, but he still remains a player capable of making an impact from the substitutes’ bench.
According to The Sun, the Old Lady have snubbed a £17.6m approach from the Gunners for Cuadrado, who is being seen as a potential replacement for Alexis Sanchez.
Sanchez is currently a transfer option for both Manchester City and Bayern Munich, and the Chilean looks likely to leave the Emirates with his contract due to expire in a year’s time.
Meanwhile, Juventus boss Max Allegri is open to the prospect of offloading Cuadrado during the summer, but he will still not come on the cheap with the club looking to make an instant profit from their recent buy(£17.3m).
The Serie A holders are holding out on a £30m sum for the versatile ace, and this has brought several other clubs into the focus including Gunners’ rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
Cuadrado had a highly unsuccessful six-month spell with Chelsea in 2015 where he made just four league starts – playing second fiddle to Eden Hazard and Willian out wide.
Regardless of this, he remains one of the top targets in Arsene Wenger’s summer shortlist with an initial approach made to pursue his services this summer. The former Fiorentina hotshot has bagged eight goals in 85 outings for Juventus to date.
