Chelsea to replace departing Mohamed Salah with Juan Cuadrado

ED AARONS Mohamed Salah's unsuccessful stay at Chelsea is drawing to a close, with the Egypt winger set to join Roma on a six-month loan that will become a permanent deal, in a move that will speed the London club's pursuit of Juan Cuadrado at Fiorentina.

The Salah transfer will see Chelsea receive a loan fee of around £550,000, with a payment in the region of £11 million to follow in the summer.

Negotiations between the clubs have been undertaken despite a dispute over who legally represents the 22-year-old. The man the player claims to be his former agent, lawyer Oliver Kronenberg, is understood to be preparing a complaint to the FA having been frozen out of the talks.

Salah joined Chelsea from Basel a year ago in an £11 million deal but has made only six league starts since and contributed only 30 minutes of top-flight football to date this term. The Premier League leaders are willing to sanction his sale, and potentially that of André Schürrle, as they move to secure Cuadrado as a replacement.

Kronenberg had smoothed Salah’s transfer to England and made Roma’s interest public last week. Yet the player took to Twitter over the weekend to insist he was no longer represented by the Swiss, a former head of Fifa’s legal department. It is understood that Kronenberg did not negotiate the deal that will take Salah to Italy.

Chelsea, who have loaned Nathaniel Chalobah to Reading, will sanction the Egyptian's departure in the hope they will now have enough time to secure Cuadrado's arrival. Talks with Fiorentina are ongoing, with the Italian club indicating they will consider nothing less than the £26.8 million that will trigger the buy-out clause in the forward's contract. The 26-year-old is believed to favour the move and a resolution is anticipated before the deadline on February 2nd.

That purchase may also require the sale of the unsettled Schürrle, with Wolfsburg and Borussia Dortmund showing interest. Guardian Service