Deco 'to join Scolari's Chelsea'

Deco has won both the European and Uefa Cup in his career
Barcelona midfielder Deco will join his Portugal boss Luiz Felipe Scolari at Chelsea, BBC Sport understands.

Reports in Portugal that Deco had met with Blues owner Roman Abramovich on Thursday were denied by the player in Spanish newspaper El Mundo Deportivo.

But Mike Sewell, BBC Five Live's man with the Portugal squad, said sources were tipping him to move to Chelsea.

"They believe Deco will go with Scolari rather than join up with old boss Jose Mourinho at Inter Milan," he said.

Barça confirmed recently that Deco was free to talk to other teams. Scolari takes over at Stamford Bridge on 1 July after overseeing Portugal's Euro 2008 campaign.

The Brazil-born star joined Barcelona from Porto in 2004 after helping the Portuguese side win the Uefa Cup, Champions League and domestic league titles under Mourinho.

He won two league championships with the Catalan giants, and was part of the team that beat Arsenal in the Champions League final in Paris in 2006.

However, a series of injuries have hampered his season, and he made just 14 starts in Barcelona's La Liga campaign.

Sewell added that Deco had left the Portugal camp on Thursday after being granted 24 hours' leave by Scolari.

"He flew to Barcelona to sort out a person matter, believed to be the finalising of his divorce," he said.

i could see this happening

think lampard might be on the way out hello jose come and get me

forget the last post

Deco not joining Scolari at Blues
June 13 2008
Deco's agent has denied speculation the Barcelona playmaker is poised to link up with Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari at Chelsea.


The Brazil-born duo have enjoyed a good working relationship with the Portuguese national team, although that is due to end after Euro 2008 with Scolari set to take charge of the Blues on July 1.


Deco is out of favour at the Nou Camp but, according to his representative Acaz Fellegger, that does not mean the midfielder is poised to move to Stamford Bridge.


"Deco is still under contract with Barcelona, even though everyone knows that he will leave the club," said Fellegger.


"Deco was also linked with Inter Milan, and now with Chelsea, but it is all speculation. There is nothing in it."


The 30-year-old said earlier this week he would like to work with Scolari at club level: "He is a coach with whom I have a great trust and a relationship that is impossible to better."

and another one

Etoo and Deco Agreed in 43M Move

SAMUEL ETOO By dixon9 June 13 2008

Barcelona and Chelsea have reached an agreement between clubs for the transfer of Etoó and Deco to Chelsea for a combined fee of 43M. Next we will see if the players themselves reach personal terms with Chelsea, and in the case of Deco, IF this means a Lampard exit to Inter or the Portuguese midfielder being used as a bargaining chip for another Chelsea/Inter shared target – such as Quaresma. My understanding was that Lampard´s intention was to stay at Stamford Bridge. For some time he has indicated that he and the Chelsea suits would sort out a deal when he came back from holiday in the summer, and later, after the sad death of his mother, he again announced he was sure he was going to stay.

However, IF Deco is coming, this can only surely mean the departure of Lampard – I mean…are we really going to have Ballack, Deco AND Lampard all in the squad?!!! No! It has to be that Lampard has decided to “get away from it all” after the effects of his recent bereavement (or something like that)…OR Mourinho has worked his powers of persuasion on our prized midfielder?

A Lampard/Deco changeover would almost be a “like for like” replacement – both are the same age and of very similar abilities. I prefer Lampard myself and would be very sad indeed to see him go.

How does the 43M split anyway? Something like 12M Deco/ 31M Etoó? No idea, but with the probable exit of Drogba I must admit that the Cameroon striker is one of the few replacement forwards that would placate Chelsea fans – even better if Drogba bottles the Milan move with no Champions League football and stays – we would then have 4 forwards, Drogba, Etoó, Anelka and Shevchenko. This scenario would probably result in Chelsea withdrawing the offer for Torres (wouldn´t it?!!!).

The next few days will be interesting ones…