ANY SENSE of frustration eating away at Chelsea after Manchester United claimed the title was eased marginally last night when the Londoners denied their rivals a long-standing target by beating them to the signature of the highly rated Porto right back Jose Bosingwa.
The Portugal defender, accompanied by his agent, Jorge Mendes, spent yesterday discussing terms at Stamford Bridge after undergoing a medical ahead of the completion of a deal which will eventually cost €20m, with his capture effectively serving as a statement of Chelsea's intent.
Bosingwa is to sign a three-year contract and while Avram Grant is only inclined at present to add a few new faces to his squad, Roman Abramovich is prepared to spend lavishly on new arrivals in the summer ahead.
There was some satisfaction to be had in denying United the 25-year-old. Alex Ferguson's number two, Carlos Queiroz, had identified the full back as a potential successor to Gary Neville, claiming in December the defender was already "good enough to play for United if he wants to".
The Congo-born player, who has played for Freamunde and Boavista in Portugal, has opted instead for west London, where he may expect to feature more regularly in the first team in the immediate future.
Right back has proved something of a problem position for Chelsea, despite Paulo Ferreira earning a new five-year contract which was signed this season. Grant and Frank Arnesen, the head of Chelsea's scouting and recruitment network, had considered Bayern Munich's Philipp Lahm, Daniel Alves of Sevilla and Sergio Ramos of Real Madrid before opting to pursue Bosingwa.
The Portuguese, who can also play on the wing, will compete with Ferreira at right back, with the Brazilian Juliano Belletti, signed from Barcelona for £4m last summer, expected to leave in the summer.
Michael Essien has been employed at full back in recent weeks, though the attack-minded and pacy Bosingwa will be confident of becoming first choice.
Chelsea's players will return to their Cobham training base tomorrow to begin preparations for tomorrow week's European Cup final in Moscow, with the fitness of John Terry and Didier Drogba to be scrutinised. The centre-half has said he will be available to play after suffering a partial dislocation of an elbow in a clash with Petr Cech on Sunday while Drogba has a knee injury after jarring the joint late on against Bolton.
The Ivorian wants to play in Moscow and is expected to feature, with Grant's players intent upon atoning for losing out in the league by winning in Russia.
"There is a mixture of frustration, but also determination," said the midfielder Mikel John Obi. "We didn't want to think about Moscow while the Premier League was still going on, but we can turn to it now. We have to keep working hard and do what we need to do for that game, and win the Champions League.
"We know what happened last year, when they won the league but we beat them in the FA Cup final. Now we need to try to repeat that. They've won the title so we have to make sure we go there and win the Champions League. It's going to be do or die, but we have to win. We know we are more than good enough to win there but we don't have to think about that yet. We have to work harder and make sure we do what we have to do."
Guardian Service
