5 most disastrous January signings in Premier League history

#2 Juan Cuadrado – Fiorentina to Chelsea (2015)

Juan Cuadrado was barely used by Chelsea after his move in January 2015

Chelsea’s signing of Colombian forward Juan Cuadrado in January 2015 was always a little strange. With Eden Hazard, Oscar, Ramires and Willian already at the club, they didn’t need another winger-come-forward, as evidenced when they used Mohamed Salah as a makeweight in the deal to bring Cuadrado to Stamford Bridge.

The Egyptian headed to Fiorentina on loan, while Chelsea also paid the Serie A club around £23m for Cuadrado’s services. And sure enough, the Colombian struggled to fit in from the off and was never really given a fair chance to show off his skills.

After a couple of games, he came under criticism from the fans, and while boss Jose Mourinho initially defended him, he seemingly changed his mind shortly after and essentially froze him out.

Cuadrado made just 4 starts for the Blues, with a further 8 appearances coming from the bench, and during his time at the club he failed to register a single goal or assist. 2015-16 saw him make one further appearance for Chelsea before being packed off on loan to Juventus, who would eventually purchase him outright for a fee of €20m, leaving the Blues with an unhealthy loss on a player who totalled less than 400 minutes of action for the club.