Chelsea clinch Carvalho deal

CHELSEA last night completed the signing of Portuguese international defender Ricardo Carvalho.

He signed a three-year contract after the Premiership side agreed a fee for the player of €30m (£19.85m) with European champions Porto.

The 26-year-old will fly out with Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon to join Jose Mourinho’s squad on their tour of the United States today.

The Portugal international passed a medical in London earlier and has agreed personal terms to complete Mourinho's summer deals.

Real Madrid were reported to be interested in Carvalho, who excelled for Portugal at Euro 2004 having been left out of the opening game of the tournament, a 2-1 defeat to Greece.

Yesterday’s deal takes Chelsea’s close season spending to more than £89.05m after the arrivals of strikers Didier Drogba and Mateja Kezman, midfielders Tiago and Arjen Robben, defender Paulo Ferreira and goalkeeper Petr Cech.

Meanwhile, Mourinho is confident he can persuade the Portuguese Football Federation to drop Tiago from their Olympic squad. The FPF expect Tiago to link up with his Portugal team-mates on Sunday in preparation for the Athens Games, which could potentially rob Chelsea of their £8m signing for the first three weeks of the season.

The 23-year-old midfielder - recruited from Benfica last week - would miss four Premiership matches including the crucial opener against Manchester United if Portugal reached the latter stages of the tournament.

Chelsea made an approach to the FPF requesting that Tiago is relieved of his obligations in Greece but this was rejected on the grounds that the competition is sanctioned by FIFA.

But Chelsea remain hopeful there will be a positive conclusion to the dispute, enabling Tiago to avoid a tournament which Mourinho regards as unsuitable for a player of his calibre. Chelsea are not the only Premiership club to lose players to Portugal’s Olympic dream with Man United’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Boa Morte of Fulham receiving call-ups.

The saga is proving an unwanted distraction for Mourinho who is busy preparing Chelsea for their second match of the Champions World Series in America. They face Roma in Pittsburgh this evening (local time) looking to build on their impressive 4-2 victory over Celtic.

Record signing Didier Drogba could make his first appearance for Chelsea since moving from Monaco for £24m while Tiago may also play.

Newcastle are closing in on two new signings as Nicky Butt flew back to England to complete his move to St James’ Park. In addition to Butt, who returned from Manchester United’s US tour overnight, the Magpies are also understood to have bid £5m for Benfica right-back Miguel.

The 24-year-old replaced Chelsea’s Paulo Ferreira in the Portugal team at Euro 2004, and was impressive as the hosts reached the final.

Butt landed in Manchester shortly before 8am yesterday and is expected to travel to Tyneside today to undergo a medical and discuss personal terms. Butt would replace 34-year-old Gary Speed, who left the Magpies for Bolton in a £750,000 move last week. The club have also allowed another midfielder, Hugo Viana, to return to Sporting Lisbon after a disappointing time in the north-east.

Walsall have signed Mark Kinsella on a two-year contract after the Republic of Ireland international was released by West Brom.

Middlesbrough’s record signing Massimo Maccarone could be heading for home after the arrivals of Mark Viduka and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. The striker, an £8.15m capture from Empoli in 2002, is being linked with a loan move to Fiorentina.