By Jason Burt in Baltimore (Telegraph.Co.Uk)
On Chelsea’s pre-season tour last summer – as they travelled around Asia – it appeared that Deco was to be the man to provide the art that the team lacked. He was to be their pass master. Adding the missing brushstrokes; that extra colour.
Deco seemed rejuvenated, after being left jaded and disillusioned as he was pushed out by Barcelona, and also relieved to be managed by Luiz Felipe Scolari, the coach who had promoted him into the Portuguese national team. At £8 million it was hoped that Chelsea had gained a creative bargain to add an extra dimension.
It didn’t work. The early season promise faded, badly, while injuries also took their toll. Deco was marginalised and wanted out of the club when the campaign ended. It appeared that another of his former managers, Jose Mourinho, who had helped Deco make his name at Porto, where the pair had won the European Cup, would offer him an escape route. But a deal for him, and fellow Portuguese international Ricardo Carvalho, has stalled. The latter has been told he has to now stay at Chelsea and the former says, however reluctantly, he wants to do so also.
I’ll be here. I have a contract,” Deco said on what he hoped would happen before the season starts. “I talked with the manager [Carlo Ancelotti] of course when he arrived. We talked a lot about things, about the game, about what he was thinking about the team, the tactics. Like I said, I will be here and I will do my best.
“The important thing is for me to start well and keep at the same level and play well all season, not just at the beginning like last season. And don’t have the injuries. That’s what I’m hoping for.”
Last season – he declares it the worse of his career – was, indeed, marred by injury for the midfielder, who is 32 next month, and who has had a history of problems in recent campaigns.
“The last season was difficult for me. I had many injuries. I played a few games. I didn’t like last season. I hope this season will be different. I’m happy to play. Every player needs to play and wants to play. I hope this season I don’t have the injuries and can play the way I know.
“It wasn’t just the injuries but when you have four injuries in the same year it is difficult. You recover and get fit again and, straight after, another injury. It’s so difficult. I don’t like to make excuses but I hope to work hard and start this season playing well. I hope I can show fans what I can do. I’m happy to be here. The club is good, the atmosphere around it is good. I like being here. I just need to play and be fit. To play and do my best for Chelsea.”
So far on this pre-season tour to the United States, Deco has started both games – playing in two different, specific positions which are crucial to the way that Ancelotti wants to set out his team. The Italian is hoping to use a diamond formation in midfield and against Seattle Sounders last Saturday, Deco played at its base as the holding midfielder. Against Inter in Pasadena on Tuesday, he was at its tip as the link to the two strikers.
Too much may be read into his presence in the team. It’s still possible that Deco may depart this summer, despite his publically stated intention to stay and, privately, it’s understood he’s extremely upset by the collapse of the move to Inter. The slower tempo of the Italian game would suit his style while the lifestyle in England has not been to his liking. Other clubs have also made inquiries and, if Ancelotti signs the creative player he desires, it could be that Deco, at the very least, goes out on loan.
However Deco maintains it was “the right decision” to join Chelsea and also shrugs off the disappointment that Scolari, his mentor and father figure, was sacked last February. He had a good relationship with Guus Hiddink also, he said, who had wanted him to play, but injuries held him back.
Meanwhile Didier Drogba, who is set to sign a three-year contract at Chelsea at the end of this tour, said he would “love” to now end his career at the club.
“I told you before, a year ago now, that I was going to stay and nothing has changed,” the 31-year-old striker said. “If there was speculation about me leaving it was not from me. I am happy at Chelsea so I am enjoying the games.”
However Drogba was unhappy under Scolari, when he was left out of the team. “It is football and managers have to take decisions and it doesn’t always suit everyone but I waited for my chance to be back on the team and I knew I would get a chance and I am delighted to be here,” he said.
Chelsea face Ancelotti’s former club, AC Milan, in Baltimore on Friday.
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