Chelsea begin talks with Fiorentina over the signing of winger Juan Cuadrado

Chelsea are reportedly in talks with Serie A club Fiorentina with regards to signing Juan Cuadrado during the ongoing January transfer window.

According to Sky Sports, the Blues are in advanced discussions with the Italian club to sign the Colombian international, who impressed at last summer's World Cup in Brazil.

The report claims that the Stamford Bridge outfit is yet to make an official bid, but a Daily Mail report suggests that Chelsea have had a £20.6m bid rejected by the Serie A club.

Cuadrado has been in impressive form since his arrival at Fiorentina and following his exploits at the World Cup, which saw him top the assists table along with Tony Kroos of Germany, multiple clubs have insisted on signing him.

Apart from Chelsea, Premier League rivals Manchester United were keen on bringing him to Old Trafford during last summer's transfer window.

It is believed that the Colombian winger's agent Alessandro Lucci is set to fly into London to begin talks with the club over a potential move. But the Italians are reluctant to let one of their key player leave midway through the season and will only sanction it if Chelsea match the players release clause, which is set at £26.8m.

The Premier League leaders are confident of signing him this month, which will make him their second signing after Partizan Belgrade midfielder Danilo Pantic confirmed earlier that he had signed for Chelsea.

Jose Mourinho will have to offload a couple of players to make room for the highly coveted Colombian winger and it is expected that the manager will let Andre Schurrle and Mohamed Salah leave this month, but is waiting on improved offers from Wolfsburg and Roma respectively.

However, Fiorentina manager Vincenzo Montella has denied speculation regarding a move away from Florence for the former Udinese player.

"To date, there is no chance that Cuadrado leaves Fiorentina. He knows that some things are exaggerated," the Serie A manager said, as quoted by Goal.