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New Chelsea manager also in market for Deco and Villa
Portugal squad shocked at timing of announcement
Kaka is thought to be a likely target for Luiz Felipe Scolari and Chelsea. Photograph: Paco Serinelli/AFP
Luiz Felipe Scolari will be given heavyweight backing in the summer transfer market as Chelsea seek the audacious captures of Kaka from Milan and Fernando Torres from Liverpool. The Brazilian, who has agreed to take up the managerial reins at Stamford Bridge after his involvement in the European Championship with Portugal ends, will also be in the market for two of his current squad, the midfielder Deco and winger Ricardo Quaresma, and others under consideration include the Spain and Valencia striker David Villa.
Scolari's primary task when he begins his four-year contract will be to re-establish Chelsea as the dominant force in the Premier League, having slipped behind Manchester United in the past two seasons after their own back-to-back titles under Jose Mourinho. Champions League success is the other priority and Scolari will be encouraged to reach for the stars when it comes to shaping his squad.
Kaka has long been a target and Chelsea hope that the Fifa World Player of the Year will be sufficiently disappointed at Milan's failure to qualify for next season's Champions League to consider his options. Milan would resist any attempt to take away the heartbeat of their team but Chelsea are nothing if not persistent. They lured Andriy Shevchenko from Milan after several failed attempts, despite the Italian club's insistence that they would not sell.
Chelsea will face similar intransigence from Liverpool if they decide to follow up their tentative interest in Torres. Although Liverpool lag some way behind Chelsea and United in terms of spending power, the thought of cashing in on Torres, the striker who scored 33 goals for them last time out, in his debut season, would cause uproar among their support. A more viable option for Chelsea is Torres's international partner Villa, whom the club's owner, Roman Abramovich, watched score a hat-trick in the 4-1 win over Russia in Innsbruck on Tuesday.
Chelsea's Portuguese connection would be swelled by the arrivals of Deco from Barcelona and Quaresma from Porto and it is set to be maintained by Ricardo Carvalho staying at the club. The centre-half, a mainstay of Scolari's Portugal, had said that he would be tempted to play again under Mourinho at Internazionale, where the Portuguese manager has taken over from Roberto Mancini, but he said yesterday: "Scolari is a great manager and a big personality. He's the kind of guy that players respond to and I think we can go forward with him."
Scolari, who has never been to Stamford Bridge, is expected to bring at least two members of his Portugal backroom staff to London - his long-standing assistant Flavio Murtosa, who worked with him with Brazil before they joined Portugal, and the fitness coach Darlan Schneider, who is also his nephew. Chelsea are expected to retain Steve Clarke, the assistant manager.
The shockwaves at Chelsea's announcement of Scolari's capture on Wednesday night continued to be felt in the Portugal squad yesterday. He had told his players that he would not make his decision on his future public during the championship and there was a feeling that he had reneged on his word.
Having pulled down the shutters at the training camp in Neuchâtel, cancelling all scheduled media activities, Scolari gathered his players around to explain himself. The timing of the Chelsea announcement, shortly after Portugal's 3-1 win over the Czech Republic which secured passage to the quarter-finals, seemed to catch Portuguese officials and players unaware, but Scolari was determined to keep the campaign on track. He will address the media tomorrow, before the final Group A tie against Switzerland in Basle on Sunday.
Manchester United have yet to respond to Scolari's comments about Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portugal winger who wants to join Real Madrid. "I have told him in football you cannot live on memories," Scolari said last week. "You have to take the opportunities when they come along because, perhaps, they will not come again in your lifetime." Sir Alex Ferguson, the United manager, could be forgiven for fearing that Scolari had ulterior motives.
Portugal squad shocked at timing of announcement
- David Hytner Geneva and Dominic Fifield Zurich The Guardian,
- Friday June 13 2008
Kaka is thought to be a likely target for Luiz Felipe Scolari and Chelsea. Photograph: Paco Serinelli/AFP
Luiz Felipe Scolari will be given heavyweight backing in the summer transfer market as Chelsea seek the audacious captures of Kaka from Milan and Fernando Torres from Liverpool. The Brazilian, who has agreed to take up the managerial reins at Stamford Bridge after his involvement in the European Championship with Portugal ends, will also be in the market for two of his current squad, the midfielder Deco and winger Ricardo Quaresma, and others under consideration include the Spain and Valencia striker David Villa.
Scolari's primary task when he begins his four-year contract will be to re-establish Chelsea as the dominant force in the Premier League, having slipped behind Manchester United in the past two seasons after their own back-to-back titles under Jose Mourinho. Champions League success is the other priority and Scolari will be encouraged to reach for the stars when it comes to shaping his squad.
Kaka has long been a target and Chelsea hope that the Fifa World Player of the Year will be sufficiently disappointed at Milan's failure to qualify for next season's Champions League to consider his options. Milan would resist any attempt to take away the heartbeat of their team but Chelsea are nothing if not persistent. They lured Andriy Shevchenko from Milan after several failed attempts, despite the Italian club's insistence that they would not sell.
Chelsea will face similar intransigence from Liverpool if they decide to follow up their tentative interest in Torres. Although Liverpool lag some way behind Chelsea and United in terms of spending power, the thought of cashing in on Torres, the striker who scored 33 goals for them last time out, in his debut season, would cause uproar among their support. A more viable option for Chelsea is Torres's international partner Villa, whom the club's owner, Roman Abramovich, watched score a hat-trick in the 4-1 win over Russia in Innsbruck on Tuesday.
Chelsea's Portuguese connection would be swelled by the arrivals of Deco from Barcelona and Quaresma from Porto and it is set to be maintained by Ricardo Carvalho staying at the club. The centre-half, a mainstay of Scolari's Portugal, had said that he would be tempted to play again under Mourinho at Internazionale, where the Portuguese manager has taken over from Roberto Mancini, but he said yesterday: "Scolari is a great manager and a big personality. He's the kind of guy that players respond to and I think we can go forward with him."
Scolari, who has never been to Stamford Bridge, is expected to bring at least two members of his Portugal backroom staff to London - his long-standing assistant Flavio Murtosa, who worked with him with Brazil before they joined Portugal, and the fitness coach Darlan Schneider, who is also his nephew. Chelsea are expected to retain Steve Clarke, the assistant manager.
The shockwaves at Chelsea's announcement of Scolari's capture on Wednesday night continued to be felt in the Portugal squad yesterday. He had told his players that he would not make his decision on his future public during the championship and there was a feeling that he had reneged on his word.
Having pulled down the shutters at the training camp in Neuchâtel, cancelling all scheduled media activities, Scolari gathered his players around to explain himself. The timing of the Chelsea announcement, shortly after Portugal's 3-1 win over the Czech Republic which secured passage to the quarter-finals, seemed to catch Portuguese officials and players unaware, but Scolari was determined to keep the campaign on track. He will address the media tomorrow, before the final Group A tie against Switzerland in Basle on Sunday.
Manchester United have yet to respond to Scolari's comments about Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portugal winger who wants to join Real Madrid. "I have told him in football you cannot live on memories," Scolari said last week. "You have to take the opportunities when they come along because, perhaps, they will not come again in your lifetime." Sir Alex Ferguson, the United manager, could be forgiven for fearing that Scolari had ulterior motives.
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