Deco

: This article is about the football player. You may be looking for Art Deco.

FC Barcelona

On 17 June 2004, Deco told a Portuguese radio station that he would almost certainly join English side Chelsea (then coached by Mourinho) following {{Ec2|2004}}. He said that a transfer deal between FC Porto and Chelsea had been all but finalized, and that the only remaining steps were passing a physical examination and signing a formal contract with Chelsea.

Related Topics:
17 June - 2004 - English - Chelsea - Mourinho

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However, on 26 June 2004 he told the Portuguese sports daily O Jogo that he would rather move to FC Barcelona than follow Mourinho, his former coach, to Chelsea. While Bayern Munich gave up on Deco after the Chelsea deal seemed to have been concluded, it was still uncertain whether the German side would make a new bid. The best offer at that time was ?21M from Barça, but this figure was still 4M short of the request by Porto's board. Portuguese newspapers then reported that Barça would try to offer Portuguese winger Ricardo Quaresma in part-exchange in order to ease the deal.

Related Topics:
26 June - 2004 - FC Barcelona - Bayern Munich - ? - Ricardo Quaresma

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Finally, a deal was achieved between FC Porto and Barcelona the day after the Euro 2004 final. Barça agreed on a ?15M fee, plus the complete rights of Ricardo Quaresma. Deco signed a four year deal with the Catalan side on 6 July 2004.

Related Topics:
Euro 2004 - ? - 6 July - 2004

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In Barcelona some suggested Deco would be completely eclipsed by Brazilian star Ronaldinho (a duo that according to Luiz Felipe Scolari "can make rain fall"), and although he played more on the midfield than on attacking roles (taking advantage of his tackling ability, which is above-average for a attacking midfielder), he continued to perform exemplarily. In December 2004, he came second in France Football's Ballon D'Or 2004 award, losing to Andriy Shevchenko and beating Ronaldinho by six votes.

Related Topics:
Ronaldinho - Luiz Felipe Scolari - December 2004 - France Football - Ballon D'Or - 2004 - Andriy Shevchenko

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In 14 May 2005, Deco played in the draw against Levante UD, which gave Barcelona their 17th Liga title. In that same season his former FC Porto team-mates Ricardo Carvalho, Paulo Ferreira and José Mourinho became English champions at Chelsea. Perhaps ironically, it was Chelsea who knocked Barcelona out of the Champions League earlier that season.

Related Topics:
14 May - 2005 - Levante UD - Liga - Ricardo Carvalho - Paulo Ferreira

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