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Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Deco moves to Chelsea in £8m deal

Luiz Felipe Scolari begins life as Chelsea's manager with the signing of the Barcelona midfielder Deco on a two-year contract.

The Chelsea yesterday completed the purchase of the 30-year-old playmaker who has followed his Portugal manager to west London in an £8m deal which may have an effect on Frank Lampard's future at Stamford Bridge.

The Premier League club had been unsure whether Deco, who was below par in a Barcelona side well adrift of Real Madrid last season, represented value for money but Scolari was obviously persuaded by Deco's good form at Euro 2008.

The midfielder was a key member of Scolari's squad in Austria and Switzerland as Portugal reached the quarter-finals and has long been viewed as the coach's on-pitch lieutenant.

But what now for Frank Lampard? The England midfielder is currently on holiday in Italy but with only a year to run on his contract he has been courted by Chelsea's former manager, Jose Mourinho, who is now at Internazionale.

Deco's arrival appears to threaten Lampard's place in the team.

1 comment:

Brent said...

I'm willing to bet Lampard will leave for Inter at the end of the season. I think too many of the Chelsea players are still in love with jose mourinho.

Brent - http://wrongside-ofthepond.blogspot.com/