Juan Guillermo Cuadrado

Juan Guillermo Cuadrado Bello (May 26, 1988) was born into a poor family living in Necoclí, a town plagued by violence in the 1990s. At the age of four, he lost his father to the violent conflicts in the area. A few years later, his mother, Marcela Bello, decided to enroll him in a soccer school in her town, but in order to pay for it she had to go to work in Apartadó, leaving little Juan Guillermo in the care of his aunt and uncle. They only saw each other on weekends, when Marcela returned to Necoclí to spend time with her son and finish high school in the evenings.

Beginnings in the world of soccer

Club Atlético Urabá was the first team of the young Cuadrado, who at that time dreamed of dazzling the world with his agile and skillful soccer. Here he played as a right back, but on the recommendation of his technical director, he switched to play as a midfielder. Thanks to his good performance, Rionegro of Colombia's first B division noticed him and did not hesitate to take him to play with them professionally in the country.les Scott and his great confidence and effectiveness in the middle of the field put him in the eyes of the big teams in the region, being Independiente Medellin the team that would sign him in 2008 and thus take an important step in his career.

Independiente Medellín: a promise made reality

Juan Guillermo Cuadrado played for the mountain powerhouse between 2008 and 2009, leaving a great stamp on the FPC with his great runs down the right flank, a characteristic that no other player was even capable of imitating. His debut came on September 14, 2008 against Boyacá Chicó, where he had a very high performance and also scored a goal.

With El Rojo Paisa he had performances that astonished all and sundry, even though he did not win any titles with the team that took him to the first division, he quickly got into the first division.Although he did not win any titles with the team that took him to the first division, he quickly entered the hearts of the fans and the eyes of world soccer thanks to his 30 games played and his two goals scored. These numbers were enough to make Udinese of Italy take notice of the Colombian midfielder and his departure to Europe was just around the corner.

Italy: Cuadrado's first destination in Europe

Udinese: the first stop

On July 2, 2009, Juan Guillermo signed his first European contract. Udinese Calcio took over his full pass and his rights as a player for five years. He had to wait until September 1 to make his debut in the Italian league, against Chievo Verona, playing as a right back, as in his beginnings. In that match he shared the defensive zone with his compatriot Cristian Zapata, who played as a central defender. During his first season he managed to play 20 games, but the team bosses were not convinced and decided to transfer him to another team in the same league.

US Lecce: first glimpses of quality

His official arrival at Lecce took place on August 3, 2011, Juan Guillermo would play on loan in the 2011/12 season. In his debut he scored four goals playing against AC Cesena, the final score was 6-0 and the Colombian ended up being the star of the match, but that would not be his only good game, at the end of the season Cuadrado managed to score 11 times and assisted 13 times in 33 games played. He won the award for most dribbling player in Serie A. However, Lecce was relegated to Serie B and that forced him to return to Udinese.

ACF Fiorentina: consolidation

Udinese was not convinced by the good level shown by the Colombian midfielder and decided to loan him again, this time to Fiorentina, the team where he arrived in July 2012, this time on loan with an option to buy. In the violet team, Juan Guillermo was able to exploit his full potential, he became an undisputed starter and played 60 games, 46 as a starter, scored 20 goals and provided 20 assists. Thanks to his contribution, the Viola team was able to qualify for the Europa League the following season and there were already rumors about the Colombian midfielder from teams such as Real Madrid and Juventus.

The 2013/14 season was the one of consolidation for the player who was already in the sights of teams like Bayern Munich, who were looking for a replacement for Arjen Robben and saw in the Colombian a very good option on the wing. This season Cuadrado made a tremendous start, scoring 10 goals and providing 4 assists in the first 10 Serie A games. His fantastic dribbling and unbalanced runs were combined with the defensive struggle that Vincenzo Montella, his coach, imbued him with, making him a complete midfielder, with goals, dribbling, speed, assists and defense. He closed the campaign with 22 goals and 16 assists in 32 games and was included in the Italian league's ideal team.

Ticket to England, a step backwards

On February 2, 2015 the London club, Chelsea F.C. unveils his new contract for the next four and a half years, a purchase that was 35.5 million euros. Five days later, the Colombian made his debut entering for Willian in the last ten minutes of the match that ended with a 1-2 victory for the blues against Aston Villa at Villa Park.

His first start came on February 11 at Stamford Bridge, he played 70 minutes in the 0-1 defeat against Everton and was replaced by Cesc Fabregas. The first trophy of his career was won on March 1 in his team's victory over Tottenham Hotspur in the final of the Capital One Cup, but he only played 14 minutes that day. Mourinho was criticized for the few minutes he gave the Colombian at the time, to which he replied that "he should adapt and that he would be important in the future".That future from Mourinho never came, Chelsea became Premier League champions, but Cuadrado only got one more start, on May 3, because Ramires was injured before the game against Crystal Palace, but Cuadrado was replaced at halftime by John Obi Mikel.

Back to Italy

On August 23, 2015 Cuadrado's return to Italian soccer was made official, when Juventus loaned him out without an option to buy for one season. Seven days later he would make his official debut at the Stadio Olimpico against Roma, playing 15 minutes. His turning point would come with his first start, it was in a Champions League match on September 15, where the Vecchia Signora won 2-1 and the Colombian had an outstanding performance, gradually regaining his good level.

On October 21, the English press stated that Chelsea and Juventus would reach an agreement for the Colombian midfielder, in which Cuadrado would stay in Italy in exchange for 22 million euros. Meanwhile, Juan Guillermo scored his first goal on October 31 in the Turin derby for his team in the last minute, and slowly but surely made his way into the hearts of the 'bianconeri' fans. From then on, Juventus would only win, that string of victories took him to the top of Serie A to win the Scudetto and also the Italian Cup.

Thanks to his good performances the previous season, Juventus decided to keep the Colombian in its ranks after a new loan of 5 million euros, with an option to buy for 20 million. During this season he managed to score three goals and provide ten assists, that and his important contribution to the team that served him for the Italian team to make effective the purchase option remaining as a Juventus player until 2020.

The 2017/18 season Cuadrado scored several important goals, the first one in the comeback at home against Genoa, a match that would end 4-2 in their favor. On November 5 he scored the winning goal against Benevento Calcio in a 2-1 win where Juventus suffered, but won. He also scored in the derby against Milan in a 3-1 victory, despite the injury that kept him on the sidelines for a while, this was his best season in terms of goals, five scored and ten assists in 29 games, they would win the double again.

In the following season his goal production dropped, he only scored one goal in the 3-1 victory against Cagliari Calcio, some injuries kept him away from the field (he only played 23 games), despite that, Juan Guillermo was always taken into account. And so far this season he has had a little more regularity, he has played 32 games scoring two goals and giving four assists with several games to play.

Colombia National Team: inexhaustible contribution

In his country's national team he is an important man in the tactical scheme. His first call-up came in a friendly match in 2010, when Hernán Darío Gómez called him to face Venezuela and from there he earned a place, to such an extent that on May 13, 2014 José Pékerman included him in the preliminary list of 30 players for the World Cup Brazil 2014, later he was included in the final 23.

He was present in the Copa América 2011, but only played one game, the last one of the group stage against Bolivia in Santa Fe. But with his great performances he earned the starting position. For the Brazil 2014 World Cup, he scored a goal in the 4-1 drubbing against Japan and was the leader in assists in the World Cup with 4 in 387 minutes. In the round of 16 he gave another assist for the 2-0 win and in the quarterfinals they would be eliminated against hosts Brazil.

After four years as an undisputed starter in the national team, he was selected again in the final list for the Russia 2018 World Cup, starting all four matches of his national team and scoring a goal in the 3-0 victory against Poland.

Spouse and family life

Juan Guillermo Cuadrado is married to Melisa Botero, they married in the city of Barranquilla in 2016, they have two children, the eldest Lucia and the youngest Lucas.

Biography prepared by: Néstor Ibarra.