Chelsea have completed the signing of Deco from Barcelona for a fee of £8m. The transfer represents Felipe Scholari’s first activity in his new job yet creates doubts about the future of other creative midfielders at the club.

There have been strong media links between Frank Lampard and Internazionale, reuniting the England midfielder with his old boss, Jose Mourinho. Lampard yesterday did not rule out a move either, commenting in Italy yesterday,

Inter? Let’s wait and see. For the moment, I am on holiday here 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

His departure would leave the strength of the squad at the same level as the end of last season in terms of numbers, something that managers are normally keen to avoid. There is little doubt that Deco, Lampard and Michael Ballack can fit into the same team, nominally leaving the German at the head of a creative triangle. However, it would seem to reduce the opportunities for players such as Joe Cole, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Saloman Kalou to play on a regular basis. Wright-Phillips has been strongly touted as joining Harry Redknapp at Portsmouth but it would seem inevitable that he will not be the only departure. Cole would draw plenty of suitors were he to be made available and bring in a large transfer fee, helping the club toward their goal of breaking even financially.

Rotation of squads is a key weapon in any team’s armoury but there has to be a balance, a core of a side that performs on a weekly basis. No team has yet won a league title in England with a consistent level of changes to the starting eleven on a weekly basis and there is no reason to suppose that this will change now.

Crucially though, the signing of Deco is a signal of intent by Scholari that he wants to win in the style craved by Roman Abramovich, a style missing during Jose Mourinho’s reign for all of the silverware that he brought to the club. Avram Grant set about changing from functional to entertaining and fell short in the Premier and Champions Leagues, arguably the fault of Mourinho’s relatively indifferent start to the season.

Deco was a pivotal player for Barcelona during the recent successful times, combining with Xavi Hernandez, Iniesta and Ronaldinho to produce entertaining football along the way to winning La Liga and beating Arsenal in the Champions League final of 2006.

There is no guarantee that Deco on his own will be the catalyst for change but certainly passing the ball is his forte. The style of Manchester United and the growing confidence of Arsenal represent new challenges for Chelsea to overcome.

Tags: Chelsea, Deco, Football, premier league, Soccer

One Response to “CHELSEA SIGN DECO - IS FOOTBALL TO RETURN TO STAMFORD BRIDGE?”

Leave a Reply

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website