Reports have stated that Arsenal were never keen on signing Colombian wide player Juan Cuadrado, who was previous with Chelsea. There were rumors in the summer that Arsene Wenger would sign the star winger, if he did not manage to get his prime target from AS Monaco Thomas Lemar. The French manager made a few acquisitions in the form of Alexandre Lacazette and Sead Kolasinac in the summer but could not land Lemar as transfer negotiations between the two clubs broke down.
Arsenal needed a top goal-scorer and therefore recruited Lacazette from French club Lyon and having brought in Kolasinac from Schalke.
Wenger managed to fill in his wing-back slot, but there were also rumors floating around with Cuadrado wanting a move to the Emirates stadium.
However, the Gunners board has now confirmed that they were never interested in bringing the Colombian international to London and these were just fake claims.
Cuadrado did spend a few months at the English capital during his brief stint with Premier League champions Chelsea but failed to impress in the limited game-time he was given.
Cuadrado joined Serie A champions Juventus on loan from Chelsea and had a good couple of seasons before eventually penning a permanent deal with the Italian giants earlier this summer. A Colombian news outlet claimed Arsenal made a €25m bid for the winger but the FA Cup winners denied any such claims.
What added fuel to the rumor was Juventus signing Douglas Costa from Bayern Munich and Federico Bernadeschi from Fiorentina which raised speculation over Cuadrado’s future at the club.
The 29 year old attacker now is on a good run of form with Juventus scoring once and notching up three assists in the opening 5 games in the Serie A league this season.
Speaking out to reporters later this season Cuadrado stated on his failed move, “I never thought about leaving and I am happy to have stayed here, at this team that gave me confidence. I am very happy with my performance, and I have to keep pushing hard because there’s not only Douglas Costa but also Bernardeschi.”
“They want to show that they want to play, so I have to keep going like this.”
Cuadrado helped Juventus in reaching the Champions League final last season but came on as a substitute and received a red card as Real Madrid won the game 4-1.
There is a need to add more top players at the Emirates, with the departure of Alexis Sanchez, though it seems that this star won’t be making the move to north London any time soon.
The Arsenal boss will have to look for alternatives with the Lemar deal not going through for now and the Londoners needing more attack minded stars to provide them the goals that they need.
They are still going strong in the League Cup and the Europa League and are chasing a top four finish, in order to make a return to the Champions League next term.
For that purpose, the club will surely be linked to a lot of top players till the winter transfer window closes, who would be on Wenger’s radar as of now.
