Chelsea have agreed a deal worth £27 million for Fiorentina winger Juan Cuadrado, according to reports emanating from Italy and England. Part of the transfer will see Mohamed Salah join the Serie A club on-loan for the remainder of the season, with the Premier League side paying the player’s wages.

It had been reportedly earlier that the futures of Blues’ players Mohamed Salah and Andre Schurrle would be closely tied into the signing of Cuadrado from Fiorentina – Chelsea are still in the process of negotiating a deal which will see Schurrle return to the Bundesliga – since the London club needs to offload salary before it can sign another player. Manager Jose Mourinho stated last week that he would not look to bring any more players in to his squad, unless there were departures first.

Should today’s news be confirmed, it is likely that an announcement on Schurrle’s future will follow shortly. The German international has been heavily linked with a £23.5 million move to Wolfsburg. But recently it has come to light that Borussia Dortmund have joined the race for the 24-year-old forward.

As for Cuadrado, the Colombia international became one of Europe’s hottest properties following strong performances during last summer’s World Cup in Brazil. The 26-year-old led his country to the quarter-finals (where they were defeated by the host nation), tied Toni Kroos for the most assists in the competition (four) and helped his team earn the FIFA Fair Play Award.

The winger completed a move to Fiorentina in July 2012 from Udinese. Since then the Colombian has scored 20 goals in 85 appearances for the Viola.

This season Cuadrado has made 22 appearances in all competitions, scoring five times and assisting another four goals. Fiorentina are currently in sixth place in Serie A, three points off of a Champions League spot in Italy.