Done and dusted at the death of the transfer window, Scolari has swooped for Quaresma on loan from Mourinho’s Inter for the rest of the season. With Malouda constantly misfiring, Chelsea desperately needed some width and now, in the form of the speedy Quaresma, they have some.
A former club-mate of Ronaldo at Sporting, 25-year-old Quaresma enjoyed his best spell at Porto, joining them from Barcelona in a deal that saw Deco go the other way. He went on to make 124 appearances for Porto, scoring 24 goals before joining Inter in a transfer which saw Pele (yes the one that has just arrived at Portsmouth) as part of the deal, along with a cool 18.6m Euros. He has made just 12 appearances for the Milan club, scoring a single goal. To be fair, he fell out of favour with Mourinho who was apparently frustrated with his workrate. Jose made no qualms about indicating that Quaresma would be shifted out in this transfer window. As it happens, it’s Mourinho’s former club that benefits.
Known for his pace on either flank and his “Trivela” shooting technique, which is the ability to swerve the ball with the outside of his foot – Quaresma will surely benefit from Chelsea’s obvious lack of width with an immediate and regular starts in the Chelsea side. He’s yet to appear in the fantasy games but I’d expect him to appear in the mid-price bracket for midfielders, at or about the same price as Joe Cole. This would place him in the 8.5 to 9.0 bracket in the FPL. He will surely get attention as a possible differential and, with Chelsea’s fixtures looking strong over the next couple of months, he should bring in some profits.
Another interesting aspect of his signing is the potential he hands Scolari in terms of a change of formation. The Chelsea boss has previously remarked that he couldn’t play 4-4-2 with Anelka and Drogba in tandem until he found the wide players to allow for the shift. Malouda never really looked like providing the solution so does Quaresma now open the way for Anelka and Drogba to gain regular starts together? It’s certainly worth monitoring how Scolari puts his new man to use and how his arrival will affect Chelsea’s pattern of play.