Almost exactly five years to the day since Roman Abramovich took over control of Chelsea, the Russian owner reminded the football world exactly what vast amounts of money can buy. Deco’s arrival signals the start of the Luiz Felipe Scolari era and if it is trophies that Red Rom is looking for, then the Portuguese playmaker almost guarantees them.

Deco experienced a slow start to his career. Corinthians rejected him due to his slight stature and then, when he arrived in Portugal, Graeme Souness was the next to question whether the diminutive midfielder had what it takes to be the very best.

Like many of Portugal’s current national team, Jose Mourinho was the making of Deco. The self-proclaimed “Special One” seems to have a magical ingredient of inspiring players and the former Porto midfielder’s career took off during Mourinho’s spell with the club.

In the last six seasons with Porto and then Barcelona, Deco has bagged four league titles, two Champions League winners’ medals and the UEFA Cup. This is an incredible haul for a modern footballer and Deco’s chances of securing more silverware in England must be pretty high with Chelsea seemingly challenging on all fronts every season.

At Porto, Deco was aided by the fact that has was an unknown quantity and, following a few years without success, Mourinho’s Porto showed a massive hunger to claim consecutive European trophies. His move to Barcelona saw Deco take on a new role which will stand him in great stead for his upcoming battles in the rough and tumble world of the Premier League.

With outrageous attacking talent at the Nou Camp, Deco was played in a more defensive midfield position by Frank Rijkaard and he was a massive success as Barcelona became the team to beat in Europe. This defensive grounding in La Liga made Deco an all-round star and confirmed his place as one of Portugal’s brightest stars.

The Brazilian-born midfielder has now played over 50 times for Portugal and confirmed his reputation as one of the premier central midfielders in world football during Euro 2008. The competition in Austria and Switzerland also confirmed the importance of diminutive, hard-working midfield players who can control possession in the middle of the park. Players like Andres Iniesta, Xavi, Cesc Fabregas and Luka Modric seem to be the prototype for the modern midfield player and arguably Deco was the first such schemer to break through on the world stage.

Deco’s chances of success are also aided by his potential midfield partners. If, as expected, Frank Lampard does leave Stamford Bridge, we can expect to see a midfield three of Michael Essien and Michael Ballack in front of and behind Deco.

Playing five across the midfield and three centre midfielders seems to be the ideal formation chosen by almost every major team nowadays. Scolari favoured this formation during his time as Portugal manager and Deco regularly played in a similar role for Barcelona.

The midfield triumvirate of Essien, Ballack and Deco is almost the perfect combination. Essien brings a fearsome work rate and high intensity alongside Deco, who will be expected to move the ball quickly in forward positions. Ballack will also bring huge amounts of running and his goal-scoring abilities to boot.

With a new manager in charge with much experience of winning major titles, Chelsea are looking good for 2008/9. They also now have three players in Ballack, John Terry and Petr Cech who will be looking to erase the ghosts of last season for differing reasons. And now with Deco, Chelsea arguably have the best midfield three in the world.

If they do go on to sign Franck Ribery or Robinho, the Blues could start as favourites to win the Premier League title and perhaps provide Red Rom with what he wants most: Big ears.