While Deco’s brief spell in the Premier League disappointed a lot of Chelsea fans, we still look back on his time in England with an awful lot of fondness.
After starring for Jose Mourinho’s Porto, Deco was expected to follow the manager to Chelsea in 2004, only to then choose Barcelona instead.
Playing alongside Xavi and Andres Iniesta, he helped turn an underperforming Barcelona side – the club had burned through five managers at the start of the 2000s before Frank Rijkaard was appointed in 2003 – into European champions in the space of two years.
Despite the success on the pitch, attitudes off the pitch began to be questioned. According to Alex Hleb, Deco and team-mate Ronaldinho showed up to training drunk and the club were worried about their potential bad influence on a young Lionel Messi.
A ruthless Pep Guardiola quickly decided to move both players on in 2008, paving the way for Deco to finally move to Stamford Bridge, reuniting with his former Portugal manager Luiz Felipe Scolari.
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