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The loan deal to take Mohamed Salah from Chelsea to Fiorentina has been completed, one of the two crucial components for the London club in the signing of Colombian World Cup star Juan Cuadrado for £23.3m.
The Egyptian winger will go to the Serie A club until the end of the season with an option for Fiorentina to buy him in the summer if he performs well for Vincenzo Montella’s team. As for Chelsea, they will have to complete the sale of Andre Schurrle to Wolfsburg to balance the books on the Cuadrado deal.
The German international is in Germany at the Wolfsburg training ground and the two clubs are expected to reach an agreement in time for the 5pm closing of the transfer window in Germany. The Wolfsburg sporting director Klaus Allofs said earlier in the day that the two parties were still negotiating a price for the World Cup winner, around the £23m mark, with details to be ironed out.
The loan of Salah and the sale of Schurrle frees up two places among the 17 non-homegrown players permitted in Chelsea’s Premier League squad. It is not inconceivable they could make a second signing to fill the other place but as it stands it looks like it Cuadrado will be the only January acquisition.
