Chelsea signing Juan Cuadrado "was born to be a football star", says his former junior coach Deninson Rivas. Rivas coached Cuadrado at Manchester de Uraba in Colombia.
"He was born to be a football star," Rivas told the Mirror. "Even at that age he was phenomenal. He had speed, he could dribble and his precision in front of goal was deadly.
"He was born to be a football idol. Even as a kid he was an idol," he said. "Wherever we went to play, even around the country, everybody loved him. He was like a magician with the ball - everybody loved his style of play.
"Word would get around in these tournaments and he would fill stadiums.
"We used him as a forward and when he was running at the goal, you just knew he would score."
