Chelsea confirmed tonight they have signed Portugal midfielder Deco from Barcelona.

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 tonight 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 this 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.

New coach Scolari starts work officially at Chelsea on Tuesday morning and will undoubtedly be happy with the club's transfer business so far.

Deco's arrival significantly boosts a midfield line-up already featuring the likes of Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack, Michael Essien, Mikel Jon Obi and Claude Makelele.

Indeed, Scolari will be faced with the task of persuading England midfielder Lampard to remain at the club.

Scolari will have a busy first week ahead of him before the players report back for pre-season training but Lampard's future will be a top priority.

The Brazilian has already been linked with a number of transfer targets, the latest of which is Real Madrid forward Robinho, but he has the unenviable task of persuading both defender Ricardo Carvalho and Lampard to remain as part of the Chelsea squad.

Lampard has one year remaining on his current contract and the holidaying midfielder seemingly refused to rule out a move to Inter Milan when quizzed over his future.

Scolari also looks as though he will lose defender Carvalho, another target for former Blues boss Mourinho at Inter.

Chelsea were planning to hold contract talks with the Portugal international, who has only just started a holiday because of his involvement in Euro 2008, but Brazilian defender Alcides says he is returning from a loan spell at PSV Eindhoven to replace him at Stamford Bridge.

Alcides has been on loan at the Dutch club for the last 18 months and said: "PSV wanted me to stay but I have learned that Chelsea want me back. It seems Carvalho is leaving and I am going to replace him."

Scolari's arrival at Stamford Bridge has been welcomed by former Chelsea manager Ruud Gullit.

The Dutch legend, who originally moved to Stamford Bridge as a player in 1995 before becoming player-manager a year later, is now in charge at Los Angeles Galaxy in the United States.

"He is the right choice at the moment," said Gullit. "I think he is a passionate coach, he does everything with the heart.

"He tries to win with good football, and he did that with the Brazilian national team

and with Portugal, so he knows how to play."

The midfielder told Chelsea's official website: "It's good for me to be here and first of all, I'm very happy to be here.

"I'm sure I've come at the right time to do great things and be able to help Chelsea go back to the way it was, and come back to being number one, not only in England but also to win the Champions League which has been their dream for so long.

"The Premier League is a great league and it's getting better and you can see that with the Champions League Final, where you had two English teams.

"It's great that we have so many great players here at Chelsea and it's great that there is the competition which is healthy for everybody and this just makes the team better.

"To have great players in any position of the club just enhances the club.

"I know it's a new challenge but I'm looking forward to it.

"I know I need a little bit of time to adapt bit but I'm sure I will adapt quite well and quite fast and do my best for the team."

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