Chelsea sign Portugal’s Deco
Chelsea last night completed the £8m signing of Portugal midfielder Deco from Barcelona, as Frank Lampard edged closer to leaving Stamford Bridge for Inter Milan.
Deco, 30, has reportedly agreed a two-year contract, and follows his former Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari to Chelsea. Scolari built his Portugal team around Deco and the playmaker insists he will help his manager elevate the Blues to the top of English and European football.
“I am sure I have come at the right time to do great things and be able to help Chelsea go back to being the first one, not only in England, but also to win the Champions League, which has been their dream for so long,” said Deco.
“The Premier League is a great league. It is getting better and you can see that with the Champions League final, where you had two English teams. I am very happy to be here.”
Scolari officially takes charge today and, with the arrival of Deco, now has four of his former Portugal players at Stamford Bridge. Defenders Paulo Ferreira, Ricardo Carvalho and Jose Bosingwa are the others.
The Brazilian coach looks set to lose Lampard, however, after the England midfielder gave the strongest indication yet that he wants to be reunited with former Blues manager Jose Mourinho at Inter
Chelsea do not want to lose one of their key players but the 30-year-old did nothing to ease fears he has already decided to leave when questioned by Italian reporters yesterday.
“Inter? Let’s wait and see,” said Lampard, who is on holiday in Sicily. “For the moment I am here on holiday with my family. My future at Chelsea? I don’t know anything yet. Italy is a beautiful country but I am not due to meet anyone here.”
Two Italian newspapers claimed yesterday that Lampard would meet Inter president Massimo Moratti and technical manager Marco Branca this week to finalise a £110,000-a-week contract.
Mourinho has admitted he would “love” to work with Lampard again, having won two Premier League titles in three seasons together at Chelsea, while Moratti has said signing Lampard is the club’s No1 priority.
Centre-back Carvalho could follow Lampard to Inter, after Brazilian defender Alcides said he was returning from a loan spell at PSV Eindhoven. Alcides said: “It seems Carvalho is leaving and I am going to replace him.”