Deco backs Mourinho for Chelsea return

Rio de Janeiro, April 26 (IANS)

Former Portugal international midfielder Deco has backed Real Madrid coach and compatriot Jose Mourinho to return to Chelsea next season.

Speculation has grown that Mourinho will rejoin the London club, where he coached from 2004 to 2007, as part of owner Roman Abramovich’s mooted summer overhaul, reports Xinhua.

Deco, who played under Mourinho in Porto’s 2004 Champions League triumph, said it could be time for the 50-year-old to embark on a new challenge at Stamford Bridge.

“I don’t see it as the same challenge for him if he went back to Chelsea,” Deco told local media Thursday in Rio de Janeiro, where he is currently playing with Brazilian top-flight club Fluminense.

“It will be something new because he would be taking over at a club that is trying to build a new squad. If he continues coaching for another 20 years it is likely that he is going to go back for a second spell somewhere.”

Deco, whose decorated European career included an injury-hit spell at Chelsea from 2008 to 2010, said Abramovich ran the club like a fan, not a businessman.

“Chelsea is the only English club which is like that,” Deco said. “At other clubs managers have more power to decide, more time to work.

“I’m not sure how things work there now and I don’t know if Abramovich makes all the decisions. But obviously if you are the owner sometimes you have more of a supporter mentality than a professional one.

“I had three different managers there: (Luiz Felipe) Scolari, (Guus) Hiddink and Carlo Ancelotti but it is definitely an atypical club in England.”

Deco is one of only nine players to have won the Champions League with two different clubs, having also received the winners’ medal for Barcelona in 2006.