Chelsea have confirmed they have signed Deco from Barcelona, with the Portugal midfielder understood to have cost the Blues around £8million.The talented playmaker had recently been told by the Catalan club he did not feature in their future plans and had been linked with a move to the Blues regularly in recent years.

And Chelsea have now confirmed the 30-year-old has agreed the move to Stamford Bridge, becoming the club's first signing since Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari was appointed manager.

The west Londoners announced the news on Monday evening and are expected to confirm they have paid £8million (11 million euros) to sign the two-time Champions League winner on a two-year deal.

The Brazil-born player's exit from the Nou Camp proved to be protracted due to the Catalans' valuation of around £11million for the player despite his age.

That price seemed to have deterred Inter Milan - who were also apparently interested - but Chelsea have managed to negotiate the price down.

Jose Mourinho, who coached him during their time at Porto, was linked with the diminutive schemer on numerous occasions during his Stamford Bridge tenure and was reportedly interested in signing him after taking over at Inter recently.

Deco's arrival is Chelsea's second signing of the summer after international team-mate Jose Bosingwa.

More Football News from TEAMtalk