Many predicted a quiet January window for Chelsea, and that had been very much the case up until a few days ago, when reports spread across the social media that the blues were in talks with Fiorentina over signing winger Juan Cuadrado.
On Friday during his pre-Bradford press conference, José Mourinho denied interest in the Colombian; simply stating “Cuadrado is a player from Fiorentina. I shouldn’t make any comments about players from other clubs.”
The Special One did however offer no certainties over the futures of Mohammed Salah and Andre Schurrle, with both heavily linked with moves away from West London; he added fuel to the fire even further by revealing “if one player moves, then we will bring somebody in.” Reports suggest that Chelsea’s interest in Cuadrado has now cooled, and they are pursuing other targets. One name thrown into the ring is Shakhtar Donetsk’s Douglas Costa.
A fast, dynamic, tricky winger – they have been two-a-penny at Chelsea in recent years; so what separates Douglas Costa from the rest? The Brazilian is 24 years old, and has made just two appearances for his country. He has also never managed more than 7 goals in all competitions in his professional career.
Can we justify meeting his £30M price-tag at this point in time? It feels as though history is repeating itself – we are back in 2013 and Willian is signing for Chelsea.
Willian has proved to be a favourite of Mourinho due to his prodigious work-ethic, but has struggled with his productivity; having scored just 5 times for us in the excess of 40 games he has featured in. He’s been a useful player to have in the squad but it’s difficult to rationalise the fee we paid for him.
Douglas Costa could be an equally utilitarian player in our squad, but for £30M? It may not look like the shrewdest purchase of this second Mourinho era.
However – he could offer us a whole new dimension out wide. Eden Hazard has firmly cemented himself down the left side; leaving Willian and Andre Schurrle to battle it out for a spot ahead of Branislav Ivanovic on the opposite flank. But, neither are natural right-wingers, and they are both right footed.
Having a left-footed right-winger increases our options and brings a feeling of unpredictability in our wing play. In recent years, rarely have we seen any of our wingers run to the byline and get the ball into the area, so having someone who can comfortably bring the ball infield, spread the play or take a shot on goal himself is recourse Mourinho could want to add to the squad. Douglas Costa will be just one of several targets the club will be pursuing this January, but although expensive – he could be just what we need.
