Barry staying a Villian this year : Aston Villa

Aston Villa's Gareth Barry would stay at Villa Park,for at least one more year.


Gareth Barry had been wanted by Liverpool all throughout the transfer market and Barry himself wanted a move to Anfield to fulfill his UEFA Champions League dreams.

The deal although has fallen through after Liverpool failed to bid for Villa's asking price of 18million pounds in the stipulated time period.

Villa's website read,

This evening, Aston Villa can announce that Gareth Barry will be staying with the club following the interest from Liverpool over recent months.

During discussions in the past few days, a final deadline to conclude this episode was set that all parties were aware of and agreed to. This deadline has now passed and so Gareth will remain with Villa.

Rafa Benitez had only this week completed the move for Robbie Keane from Spurs and was expected to sell at least three players to make finances available for Barry to be his midfield partnership with Steven Gerrard.

Rafa Benitez can now look elsewhere! Options anyone!?

Diouf is a Black Cat!

El Hadji Diouf signs for Sunderland.


Former Liverpool and Bolton player,El Hadji Diouf is now a Sunderland player.He signed a four year deal with the Black Cats after agreement was reached with the player and amongst the clubs.

"El-Hadji is a great signing for us and we're thrilled to get him in," Keane,Sunderland manager told the club's official website.

"He has bags of Premier League and international experience, which is exactly what we've been targeting this summer.

"El-Hadji has always been the kind of player opposition teams and supporters love to hate, a thorn in the side, and that's why we're delighted to now have him in our squad.

"Our coach, Ricky Sbragia, has also worked very closely with him and speaks extremely highly of him, so we're looking forward to working with El-Hadji, I think he's a signing that will excite our supporters."

Great signing,Yeah?

Information : Away

Hi.I would not be able to post any news until next Sunday due to work commitments so read older posts and look out for my return on Sunday.
Ciao.

Pre Season Friendlies

Pre Season Friendlies.


Barnet 1 (Gillet) - 2 Arsenal (Simpson,Barazite)

York City 2 (Boyes,Sodje) - 2 Middlesborough (Franks,Wheater)

Schalke 1 (Krstajic)-0 Rangers

Fulham 3 (Zamora,Nevland,Andreasen) - 1 Celtic (Barry Robson)

Newcastle United 4 (Damien Duff,Duff,Duff,Guthrie) - 1 Hartlepool (Matty Robson)

Wisla Krakow 1(Voronin) - 1 Liverpool(Jirsak)

Cambridge United 4(Parkinson,Parkinson,Wilmott,Beesley) - 2 Everton(Jutkiewicz,Jutkiewicz)

Manchester United held to a draw

Manchester United drew with South African side Kaiser Chiefs.


Manchester United were held to a 1-1 draw by Kaiser Chiefs,a South African side in their pre-season friendlies.

Chiefs went ahead against the run of play in the 37th minute after Neville brought down a player in the box.From where Quartey sent Kuszczak the wrong side and made it Chiefs 1 Manchester United 0.

Manchester United had many chances of equalising after this but failed to break down the Chief's defense until the 59th minute when Chris Eagles put the Red Devils on level terms.Eagles who had played only three games in the previous season was a great show with spectacular corners and play.

United thereafter weren't able to break down the defense which looked in tact and a great preparatory game for Man U before the season starts next month.

United saw Gary Neville better his previous time on the pitch against Aberdeen by playing for an hour in this game.

Manchester United now head to Durban for the second game against Orlando Pirates.

Evra handed

Patrice Evra has been found guilty of misconduct and Rio Ferdinand is let off with a warning.


Patrice Evra has been found guilty of misconduct by the FA after the Chelsea-Manchester United game at Stamford Bridge.

Allegedly Evra who was pacing up and down, after the game which United had lost 2-1 the Frenchman lost his cool and has been charged with misconduct with the ground staff.The ground staff has also been charged after been found of abusing and passing racial slurs towards the player.

Ferdinand on the other hand has just been 'reminded of his responsibilities' after he was also reported to have kicked a female steward after the final whistle.He was expected to be banned and maybe overlooked for the England national side's captaincy.But he has been spared after the steward didn't report the matter and has apologised as well.

Is it justified to let off a player after he apologises??

Liverpool beat Lucerne in pre season

Liverpool beat FC Lucerne,the Swiss side 2-1 with goals from Voronin and Lucas while the goal from Lucerne came from Gavranovic.

Voronin was impressive in the second half as well but a defensive lapse from new full back,Philipp Degen who lost out at the far post.

Only problem still persistent is lack of goal fest from Liverpool!

Hleb joins Barcelona

Hleb has signed for Catalan giants,Barcelona.




Alexander Hleb has been officially named as a Barcelona player after he completed his long overdue exit from Arsenal.

He was in Barcelona today for the medical as he was linked with an exit throughout the entire summer.

The deal is believed to be around 15million euros or 11.9million pounds and has been agreed to by Gunners.

The contract has been signed for a period of four years.

He has high aspirations of winning silverware with Barcelona as he came very close to achieving that when they fell short for their pursuit of the Premiership in which Hleb scored 7 goals in 89 games.

Arsenal has already seen the exit of Flamini and there has been high speculation over the future of Adebayor.

Aimar a toon?Signs for Benefica

Aimar is reported to be heading for the Toons.




Reports in Spain suggest,Aimar is close to signing for Magpies and in the process snub Benefica and Everton.

Benefica were expected to be the front runners after Aimar who played for Zaragoza last season were relegated to segunda division,

The deal is expected to be finalised within two days be worth 7million pounds.

UPDATE: Aimar has signed for Benefica as has been officially announced by Zaragoza.

The communications official at Zaragoza had this to say :

"He is about to sign a contract with Benfica. Between Zaragoza and Benfica everything is sorted out. The doors are open for Aimar to become a Benfica player."

La Liga fixtures

La Liga fixtures released for 2008-09.




La liga fixtures for the 2008-09 season have been released.The season kicks of on 31-08-2008 and ends on 31-05-2009.


The first week has the following fixtures:



Athletic Bilbao vs Almería
Atletico Madrid vs Málaga
Espanyol vs Real Valladolid
Real Betis vs Recreativo Huelva
Sporting vs Getafe
Racing Santander vs Sevilla
Numancia vs Barcelona
Deportivo vs R. Madrid
Osasuna vs Villarreal
Valencia vs Mallorca

For the full list,check the following link.
La Liga full fixtures.

Del Bosque is new Spain coach

Former Real Madrid manager Vicente Del Bosque has been appointed as new Spanish national team manager.




Vicente Del Bosque replaces Luis Aragones who led the Spanish side to Euro 2008 title who were otherwise referred to as perennial under achievers.

He makes his debut against Denmark on August 20.

He would be signing a deal tomorrow and is expected to ink a deal for two years and the main aim would be to guide Spain to South Africa,World Cup 2010.

He has won 2 Champions league,two La Liga titles,Spanish Super Cup,European Super Cup and Inter Continental Cup all in a span of four years which would be the biggest successful spell in modern history.After which,shockingly he was not offered a contract renewal.

He is the right man for the Spanish team,experience,has handled big pressure situations before and has been known for an attacking mindset which would be good for the Spanish side.

Ronaldino signs for AC Milan

Ronaldinho has signed for AC Milan from Barcelona and in the process snubbed offers from Manchester City who were paying a very much higher value than what AC Milan had offered.
Ronaldinho had completed medical and has signed a three year deal and will receive wages of 6.5million Euros.
AC Milan paid a fee of 20million euros to Barcelona and there are further bonuses depending upon Champions League performances by AC Milan.
Ronaldinho also agreed to a drop a 15% earning from the transfer which facilitated AC Milan being the front runner.
Deal was concluded today by Laporta and Adriano Galliani in Spain.





My question is,wouldn't Barcelona want more money than give out a player to fellow Champions League team?

Zamora to undergo medical at Fulham

Zamora has almost completed move to Fulham.


Bobby Zamora is set to move from Uptown Park to Craven Cottage and is undergoing a medical.

Zamora had been given the go ahead to speak to Fulham by West Ham and would be revealed as a Fulham player very soon.

Zamora moved from Spurs to West Ham in 2004 and has scored 30 goals in 130 appearances.

He is expected to fill in the gap created by the exit of Brian McBride earlier in the summer.

Goal 4 Africa

Charity game was played at The Allianz Arena featuring many stars to raise money for African Football.



The aim of the event is to raise money for African football until the World Cup in South Africa in 2010.
The campaign aims to raise $90m until that year.
Fans were asked to contribute after every time their team scores a goal.The game finished 9-6 and featured Van Persie,Michael Ballack,Baichung Bhutia and was captained by Dutch,Seedorf against Brazilian,Ronaldo.

Goal 4 Africa (video)

As per Goal4Africa website they have raised 875,655pounds so far.

Arshavin could join Gunners

Arshavin's agent has hinted at the player's decision of choosing Arsenal over other clubs due to Arsene Wenger.


Zenith St Petersburg's hot property,Andrei Arshavin could snub offers from Barcelona and Chelsea and instead move to Arsenal after his agent revealed how the striker is a fan of Arsene Wenger and Arsenal's exciting attacking football.




He had this to say,

"If Arsenal go for Arshavin it could be really good for both parties. Arsenal is a very young team and Arshavin is 27. There's something about combining young and older players, they propagate attacking football."

Barcelona have already had their one bid rejected for the Russian striker who grew in the transfer market after winning the UEFA Cup and an impressive performance in the Euro 2008.
Chelsea are also considered to be in the running due to Roman Abramovich who pays wages for the Russian National team and wants to add Russian flavour to his Chelsea squad.
Only question that needs to be answered is Will Arsenal bid for Arshavin??

Ronaldo out for 12weeks : Physio

Ronaldo would be out for four months says the Physio with the Portuguese national team.


Cristiano Ronaldo would be out till October and would start his rehabilitation process in three weeks time where he would recover at Manchester United.

He had undergone surgery last week in Amsterdam and would be kept under Portugal's physio's watchful eye for three weeks after which he would be taken over by Manchester United physiotherapists.

France 98 vs Rest of the world

World cup winning team of 1998,France played Rest of the world in an exhibition game at Stade de France on its 10 year anniversary(maybe also to forget the horrendous campaign at the Euros?).
The goals were scored by Zizou,Giuly and Diomede for the french whereas the goals from the Rest of the world came from,Butragueno,Pauleta and Suker.



France 98 vs Rest of the world (video)



The game was although not started with great happiness as a kid of age 10-years old died on the way to the game in a car accident.A minute's silence was observed before the game started in his honour.

Ferguson : No rush to replace Queiroz

Sir Alex : We won't rush to replace Queiroz.


Sir Alex spoke to media after Manchester United's 2-0 win victory over Aberdeen in their Pre-season friendly.
Carlos Queiroz,who took over the post of Portuguese national team manager after Luis Felipe Scolari moved to Chelsea.Queiroz had earlier been highly linked with the post by the Portuguese media.(read here)
Queiroz who was in charge of many duties at Manchester United would be a huge difference to how Manchester United plays and how the transfer deals are affected due to this.
There have been many names linked to the job such as Laurent Blanc,Brian Mclair and former Liverpool assistant,Pako Ayesteran.

Ferguson had this to say :

"There's nobody in mind and no timescale. We take our time on these things because we've got a good staff. We have never made a quick appointment.

"It's always disappointing to lose good men and Carlos was a good man. He was honest and very loyal to me. He was also a very good coach who brought a lot of initiatives that we have acted upon in recent years."

"I knew when Portugal came in for him that it was going to be difficult for us."

How would Manchester United progress without Queiroz?Would it be the same?This would undoubtedly put more pressure on Sir Alex as a manager as he would have to attend to every player individually and on every aspect.I think they should appoint someone as number two before the start of the season.
What do you think?

Pre season friendlies

A few pre season friendlies were played today and the results are below.



Aberdeen 0 - 2 Manchester United(Carrick,Rooney).
Notable inclusion for Manchester United was the start for Gary Neville who played one game the last season due to injury.





FC Zurich 2(Abdi,Abdi) - 1 Aston Villa(Agbanlahor).
Notable omission was there captain Gareth Barry whose future is still under speculation after Villa's ever rising demands.





Tranmere Rovers 0 - 1 Liverpool(Benayoun).
There was total dominance from Liverpool but as again there Goals Scored section didn't narrate that story.The game also saw return of Daniel Agger from injury plagued 2007-08 season.

Information : 10/07/2008

I apologize for the lack of news reports in the past three days but I have just started a new job so can't post that often now and would try to wrap up the whole days news in my free time.

Ronaldo to go under the needle

Cristiano Ronaldo is set to be operated on his ankle.



Cristiano Ronaldo is to be operated today in Amsterdam which would keep him out for six weeks.

The meeting was arranged by the Portuguese FA and Manchester United's medical staff.He could be released tomorrow.

Ronaldinho snubbed Man C : Galliani

AC Milan VP,Galliani claims that Ronaldinho has rejected Manchester City.



Despite a more lucrative offer than AC Milan,Ronaldinho has rejected the Eastland club in favour of AC Milan says Galliani.

Ronaldinho had been earlier released by Barcelona after a change of manager and the Brazilian falling out of favour due to his lack of effort and party interests than to play football.AC Milan had already announced that they cannot compete with the English club in terms of money.

Even though the player has mentioned publicly about his interests of joining either Chelsea or Milan.

Galliani was speaking to Italian newspaper La Stampa where he proclaimed the toothy skillful midfielder has rejected Manchester City.

AC Milan have even considered a loan deal but that would depend upon Barcelona,he said.Milan's financial position isn't great to compete with clubs in England and Spain.Although,that hasn't made them "Go Arsenal" by selling big players.They had denied selling Kaka to Chelsea which would have certainly been a huge deal.Also received offers for Pirlo by many clubs but money isn't an issue for the player.

Milan had also been after Emmanuel Adebayor but the financial constraint made the deal difficult.They had also acquired and strengthened their squad in the form of Flamini from Arsenal,Marco Borriello,Zambrotta from Barcelona and return of Pato from injury.

Ronaldinho to Chelsea or Milan then?Where would he fly?

Portuguese Media : Welcome Queiroz

Carlos Queiroz is most likely to become general manager for Portugal.



Despite the offer of a pay rise at Old Trafford,Sir Alex's team man Carlos Queiroz is most probably the successor for Luis Felipe Scolari who left after Euro 2008 and took over at Chelsea.
Chairman of Portugal's football affairs had this to say,

"I am optimistic and I believe that this subject will be closed soon. I have spoken about mid-July but really it could be sooner.”

Queiroz has prior experience of managing national sides UAE and South Africa.He has been at Manchester United for a long long time and has been also linked as the man to replace Sir Alex when he finally retires but there has been no official talk on this issue.
His exit might see a different United side who is a link to stop the Ronaldo transfer from happening and man who motivates the team and has been credited with the water tight defense of Manchester United who conceded only 22 goals last season.


It's all sounding too difficult to go through that easily especially when Manchester United and their big-wigs are involved but really an experience of managing UAE and then South Africa and now Portugal,this would be a huge leap.Portugal would draw a lot of attention and limelight,would Queiroz come through?

Laporta goes into vote OUT!

Joan Laporta might not be at the helm of Camp Nou come Sunday.


Joan Laporta could be out of work after tomorrow's elections for the top post at Barcelona.
Barcelona fans will go to polls to change the presidency by Laporta who had been highly criticized for a trophy less last season which also saw the end of Frank Rjikaard as a manager for the Catalan club which has thus been taken over by Pep Guardiola.Also three top players,Ronaldinho,Eto'o and Deco have been released.
To stay as president he needs to win more than two-thirds of the votes and there should be ten percent turnout by the entitled members.
Although Barcelona have acquired decent players in the transfer window in the form of Daniel Alves from Sevilla as well as getting back youth system brought up Pique from Manchester United to bolster their shaky defense which has seen the exit and lack of performance for some.
The voting takes place tomorrow and the results would be announced tomorrow night itself.

Galatasaray get Kewell

Galatasaray website confirms signing of Liverpool midfielder Harry Kewell on a three year deal.


Kewell has been signed on a free transfer after he wasn't given a contract extension after injury plagued seasons at Anfield.

Earlier Portsmouth and AS Roma were also linked with the Aussie star who has had very little match play in the past two seasons.

It is also expected that he won't be able to join the Socceroos for the Olympics in 2008 as he would be playing in the Turkish league and adapting to the new environment.

However Kewell's agent has denied the transfer and claims they are in talks with two clubs and nothing is official yet.The decision would be reached by noon on Saturday(European Time).

Check the Galatasaray website here.

Les Blues stick to Domenech

French Football Federation to stick to Raymond Domenech.


The French football federation today decided not to terminate Raymond Domenech's contract despite calls for his head by many fans and media for a poor show in the recently concluded Euro 2008 where France couldn't make past the group stages with a dismal show as they could only manage a single goal against 6 conceded.

His contract had been extended prior to Euro 2008 for two years which might have been the reason for not sacking the Frenchman who proposed to his long time girl friend after France were knocked out causing further public dismay to Domenech.

His situation would be reassessed after the first three World Cup 2010 qualifiers of which the third is against Romania,who were France's opponents in their first game of the Euro 2008 which was a rusty 0-0 draw.

Some of the former players like Zizou,Lizarazu,Dugarry called for him to be replaced by Didier Deschamps.However,Domenech had the backing of his current players including Ribery,Viera,Govou.

Even the likes of Michel Platini(UEFA chief) and Bordeaux boss,Laurent Blanc said the FFF should stick to current manager.
Will it turn out to be a good decision?Would he perform finally?Would France give away their defensive mindset and be able to come out all guns blazing in the qualifiers,remains to be seen.

FIFA Rankings : Spain are número uno

Spain climb to number one spot after Euro 2008 win.

Spain broke their 44 years long jinx of no trophies despite an array of talent.They beat Germany in the final.The rankings see Spain move up from 3rd place to the top slot which was earlier taken by Italy.
England on the other hand,who failed to qualify for the Euros slipped six places to the 15th position only a month after entering the Top 10.
The top 6 sees Spain on top followed by Italy,Germany,Brazil,Netherlands and Argentina.

Bundesliga fixtures

Bundesliga fixtures announced.


Bundesliga champions,Bayern Munich kick off the 2008/09 season against Hamburg on the 15th of August.
It would also be the beginning of the season for two new coaches,Jurgen Klinsmnann going up against Martin Jol.
This would be the only tie of the day as other first round matches take place the following day that is on 16th August.
The whole fixture list looks like this:
FC Bayern v Hamburg

Schalke v Hannover

Wolfsburg v Cologne

Bayer Leverkusen v Borussia Dortmund

Eintracht Frankfurt v Hertha Berlin

Karsruhe v Bochum

Energie Cottbus v Hoffenheim

Arminia Bielefeld v Werder Bremen

B. Mönchengladbach v Stuttgart

Ben Sahar on loan to Pompey

Ben Sahar signs a six month loan deal with Portsmouth.

18 year old,Ben Sahar who had been a regular with Chelsea reserve team would get first team action with Portsmouth.He previously had two loan spells at QPR and Sheffield Wednesday and then made 3 appearances for Chelsea but failed to make an impact.Portsmouth needed a bigger squad after they had qualified for UEFA Cup football too.
Speaking to Portsmouth website he said,

"I'm ready for the challenge of being part of such a big club, like Portsmouth."

"I want to be part of it and to show that I deserve to be here."

Why is Chelsea letting go of youngsters is what I fail to understand?Why always big money signings?Why not build for the future?

Joey Barton sentenced for four months

Joey Barton was sentenced earlier in the day for attacking a team mate last year.

Barton who is already serving a six month sentence for an earlier attack in Liverpool last boxing day.The current sentence is for four months suspended prison sentence and 200 hours of community service after he punched Manchester City team mate,Ousmane Dabo.
Today’s sentence has however been suspended for two years and a nine month supervision order and told to pay 6,500 pounds of which 3000 would go to the victim.
Following the order,Manchester City had this to say,

"Newcastle United notes the sentence passed to Joey Barton at Manchester's Minshull Street crown court today," the Newcastle statement said.
"The club now intends to hold discussions with Joey and his representatives at the earliest possible opportunity.
"Until such time that this meeting has taken place, there will be no further comment from the club."

Barton had previously denied the charges but yesterday he pledged guilty to assault charges.
It remains to be seen what Newcastle United does now?Will he be sacked?Would another team want this extremely unprofessional player who has violent records to show in the past?

Manchester City for a trip to Faroe Islands

Manchester City face Faroe Island side EB/Streymur in their UEFA Cup qualification rounds as announced today.

EB/Streymur is a very small club where their stadium has a seating capacity of only 1000 people,has only one stand and needs fences to prevent the ball from going behind into the sea.
The tie is supposed to take place on July 17 and both the clubs might decide on a different venue to hold Manchester City’s travelling fans.The venue being considered is the national stadium in Torshavn.
The second leg has been shifted from Manchester City Stadium to Barnley’s Oakwell ground because of problems to the pitch in Manchester after a concert.
This game marks the beginning of Mark Hughes’ reign at the club and is expected to be an easy visit considering the Faroe Island side are ranked 193rd in the 199 list of clubs in Europe as per FIFA rankings.

VIDEO : Xavi vs Messi

Xavi and Messi go head to head in a game of bowling with a twist.
Enjoy the video.

XAVI vs MESSI : Bowling

Steaua Bucharest will play Champions League

Romanian side,Steaua Bucharest has been granted permission to play in the Champions League by UEFA.

UEFA's Control and Disciplinary body has cleared Steaua Bucharest from playing Champions League next season after no final decision had been reached on investigations in Romania.
Earlier the chances for AC Milan to play in the Champions League were revitalized when the Bucharest side were reported to UEFA.
The situation would be reviewed once the investigations are completed by the Romanian footballing authorities.They have been alleged to have bribed other team players to win the title.
Even after six points were docked they managed to finish second in the league and eligible for Champions League.

Real Madrid news

Real Madrid tid-bits from football-o-sphere.

Real Madrid have decided against buying back Alvaro Negredo from Almeria.The deadline expired last night and no deal was struck.If Madrid does plan to buy the player next season they would have to shell out a further million euros to the asking price of £2.5 million.


Real Madrid keeper Jordi Codina admits he's on his way to Benefica.Benefica have already acquired Javier Balboa and would top it off with the keeper deal.
The youngster revealed: "I look forward with confidence the prospect of playing for Benfica."


Atletico Madrid have raided city rivals Real Madrid and have the future in mind where they are looking for young midfielder,Claudio Giraldez.
Giraldez,19,was a regular with Real Madrid B and is part of the U-19 Spanish national side.He has been with Madrid since the age of 13.
He is likely to start with Atletico B but may get the chance to play the senior squad as well in the pre season matches.

Mourinho : No Lampard..FOR NOW

"Lampard to San Siro not this season" : Mourinho

Speaking to The Sun,Mourinho said the transfer of Lampard to Inter Milan is unlikely this season.
Mourinho had taken over at Inter Milan in June and he was their prime target as revealed by Inter President as well.
Lampard's contract is set to expire in a years time.The signing of Deco by Chelsea has also fueled reports for Lampard's exit but Mourinho is in no hurry to bring the Englishman to his squad.
Mourinho claimed,

This season? I don't think so."

Why won't he? Well, it's not because we don't want him to, but I'm sure Chelsea and Chelsea's officials don't want to sell him.

"However, for the next season it will be easier for him to join me at Inter.

"I'm 100 per cent sure in 2009/2010 he will be playing here."

Zenith want Messi + cash for Arshavin

I am sorry I found this "rumour" to be extremely bizarre and well funny alongside.
As reported by Extra Football,Russian club,Zenith St. Petersburg have been in formal talks with Barcelona over Arshavin.
Now as reported by the afore mentioned website,UEFA Cup winners Zenith will only let go of Arshavin if they are offered 20 million euros and Lionel Messi.
Yeah the equation reads :
€20 million + Messi = Arshavin!
This would probably be the most stupidest piece of rumour one could ever even think of believing!

Scolari signs Deco

Chelsea sign Barcelona and Portugal playmaker Deco.

New Chelsea manager,Luis Felipe Scolari brought on his Portuguese flavour to Stamford Bridge when on the eve of his appointment,the first signing was complete.Barcelona's midfielder Deco had officially signed for Chelsea,a contract for two years worth 8million pounds.This comes after Barcelona had released three players from their squad and Deco was one of them.He had then been linked with a move to Inter Milan to join Jose Mourinho but it only sounded like a speculation more than something which could go through.
This however has created doubts over Lampard's future at the club who has been heavily linked with a move to Inter Milan and according to some reports,he has already signed a contract and the announcement is expected in a few weeks.

Deco had this to say on his appointment,

"I am sure I have come [to Chelsea] at the right time to do great things and be able to help Chelsea go back to the way it was and be first, not only in England but also to win the Champions League," said Deco. "That has been their dream for so long. The Premier League is a great league and it is getting better. You could see that at the Champions League final where you had two English teams."

"It is great that we have so many great players here at Chelsea and it is great that there is the competition which is healthy for everybody. This just makes the team better. To have great players in any position just enhances the club. I know it is a new challenge but I am looking forward to it. I know I need a little bit of time to adapt but I am sure I will adapt quite well and quite fast and do my best for the team."

The Chelsea first team squad would return for training next Monday and only then will there be concrete news on Lampard and Carvalho's future.
Deco had been doubtful to sign for Chelsea because of his poor form at Barcelona last season but those thoughts were rubbished with his fine display at Euro 2008 where Portugal reached the Quarter Finals.Deco has great defensive as well as attacking ability and a great vision to create chances for players upfront.