New Chelsea signing Deco has pleaded with Didier Drogba to stay at Stamford Bridge.
Deco, who has arrived from Barcelona for around £8million, has stated that Frank Lampard's quality will be needed to win the Champions League and he also feels Drogba's firepower is essential.
Drogba has been tipped to leave Stamford Bridge since the departure of Jose Mourinho but could now stay, with a decision expected in the next week.
"Obviously at this time many, many clubs are looking to buy a forward and it's difficult for most teams and Drogba is one of he best centre forwards in the world," said Deco. "All the big clubs will want a player like him.
"I don't know if he will stay or not. I did speak to him and I told him I'd love him to stay and I'd love to play with him, he is a fantastic player but transfer conversations are not for me to say anything.
"I just hope he can stay with us because he is one of the best forwards in the world and to win the Champions League you need players like Drogba. I'm not surprised that clubs are trying to get him out of Chelsea but I do hope he stays with us."
Lampard's future has been uncertain as there has been no agreement on a new contract to extend his current deal, which expires in a year.
Mourinho is keen to take him to Inter Milan and Massimo Moratti, president for the Italian club, claims that the midfielder has his heart set on a move.
He told his club's official website, www.inter.it: "For the acquisition of Lampard we need to have patience. We have the player's approval but we have to respect Chelsea's rights.
"His club have every right to keep him."
Lampard has still been training under new manager Luiz Felipe Scolari's tough new regime.
"During training, he is harder but that is normal," Deco said. "He is a very friendly, affectionate guy but when he works, he takes it very seriously.
"He wants players to be dedicated - not playing around. You have to work hard."
Deco is friends with Cristiano Ronaldo but, regardless of whether he stays at Manchester United, does not feel his Portugal team-mate will affect Chelsea's chances this season.
"For Chelsea, I feel we are strong enough to beat anyone," Deco said.
"I don't know if it's difficult for him or not. We are talking about two very big clubs - maybe winning the Champions League makes him feel as if he needs to go, but I don't want to talk about him, I just want him to make the decision that is best for him and be happy."
More news from SportingLife.com
Comment 1 - 5 of 5
Let him go! hes not that good ,strong ,good in the air but not much else.i'll give u a quid.
Chelsea is only paying for the eccentic and vindictive nature of Roman who unfortunately feels money is everything - Couldn't he have more patient with Morinho who won solid laurels for the club and brought more colour, grit and panache to the EPL? Grant came on board and got to the final of CL. Abrominovic could hardly wait for the club to return to London before skinning the poor man! Life is not only about victory and results - as he will discover, compassion, loyalty (bottom - up & vice versa) getting up anytime u fall, resilience, etc are important ingredients that make the world go round. And more importantly, grace.
Drogba is a great player when he wants to be one; I'm not a Chelsea hater. But I think the EPL can do without drogba, he dives and cheats far more than the vast majority of foreigners in the league - so much that I would rather see him elsewhere outside the epl. He's so strong yet he acts like this.
what r u talking about babsky_t ?? we have won the epl 2 times, fa cup and carlin cup. not to mention we have been in a champions league final and almost won the epl last season. Arsene how can u say he is wise? i love his idea's they are brilliant but he never wins anything.
THE LAST THING ARSENAL HAVE WON IS THE FA CUP BACK IN 2005. ALMOST 4 YEARS AGO!
Failures, ChelseaFC only know about spending enormous money to buy worn out players but at the end no trophies to show for it. It is a shame to know taht since the inception of the club, they have only won premiership twice. Learn to spend prudently and stop buying worn out players. Why cant u emulate Arsene or Fergie. Every year u lost more than 100m pounds due to the purchase of expensive players without any trophies to show for the spending. Learn hw to be a profit maximixing team. Be Wise Abrominovic
Please login to post a comment
Not already a Yahoo! user ? Sign up to get a free Yahoo! Account