Reports: Manchester United to offer £40 million for Fiorentina’s Juan Cuadrado

Juan Cuadrado: The solution to Manchester United’s woes on the wings?

Manchester United are to make an improved bid of £40 million for Fiorentina winger Juan Cuadrado, according to Sport Witness.

The club have been tracking Cuadrado for some time, and had recently been reported to have offered £30 million to sign the 26-year-old. The electric winger is also admired by Arsenal, Liverpool, and Bayern Munich, though none of them are expected to match an offer worth £40 million.

Cuadrado is also capable of playing as a wing-back, and that versatility could be attractive to new United boss Louis van Gaal. Van Gaal has generally set his teams up in a 4-3-3 system throughout his career, though he has switched to a 5-3-2 in this World Cup as a result of Kevin Strootman’s injury-enforced absence, and the Colombia international is capable of playing in either system.

If the club’s bid for Cuadrado is successful, he would become the most expensive signing in the club’s history, beating the £37.1 million fee they paid for Juan Mata in January.

He played in all five of Colombia’s games at the World Cup, but he was unable to prevent his nation losing 2-1 to Brazil in the quarter-finals.