FC Krasnodar Has Agreed on the Transfer of Christian Cueva

Soon FC Krasnodar is to recruit a 26-year-old midfielder of the Peru national team, Christian Cueva.

Christian Alberto Cueva Bravo was born on 23 November 1991 in a Peruvian city of Trujillo. In two years his family moved to another city, Huamachuco, where Cueva began playing football and at the age of 17 signed his first professional contract with the local club Universidad San Martín de Porres. He subsequently won the Peruvian domestic championship twice with this club. Christian scored his first goal in professional football on 16 July 2008 against Universidad César Vallejo, and interestingly enough he also moved to the named club four years later.

In January 2013 Christian was bought by the Chilean club Unión Española as one of the most talented young players of Latin America. With his new team Cueva won the Chilean Primera División in the end of the same season. Soon after that the Peruvian fantasista (he had already been summoned to the Peru national team) moved on loan to Rayo Vallecano de Madrid. He did not get to play in Spain on a constant basis though, so after making two appearances for his new club he moved to Rayo Vallecano B and stayed there until the end of the Season 2013/14.

In summer 2014 Christian came back to Peru, but to a different team now, Alianza Lima. He spent one season there and moved to the Mexican club Toluca for another one. In summer 2016 he was bought by one of the top Brazilian teams, São Paulo FC, where he has been playing until now.

As for Christian Cueva’s international career, it began in 2011 when he capped four times for the Peru national U-20 team at the South American Youth Football Championship staged in Peru. Cueva’s performance was praised by the local media. He made his debut in the first national team of his country the same year. Team Peru and Christian achieved their best international progress of recent years at the 2015 Copa América hosted in Chile where Los Incas won the bronze medals. As for Cueva, he made the Copa América Team of the Tournament with his 6 appearances, one scored goal and two assists.

Another Equipo Ideal he was honored with inclusion was the one composed following the results of the 2017 Campeonato Paulista, the top-flight professional football league in the Brazilian state of São Paulo that does not concede to the Brazilian Championship A Series in terms of significance. During the same year the authorities of his hometown Trujillo awarded Cueva with the Hijo Ilustre de la Ciudad title.

Christian Cueva made appearance in every one of the three matches the Peru national team played at the just concluded 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. Cueva displayed some solid performance there and marked himself with an assist in a game vs. Australia.

As for now, football clubs Krasnodar and São Paulo have agreed on the Cueva’s transfer details. The attacking midfielder will undergo a medical examination shortly, and then he will sign a personal contract with the black-greens and join his new team.

Career statistics for Christian Cueva

* All stats are shown with the inclusion of the national and continental Cup games