‘Maestro’ springs Maniche from Moscow

CHELSEA last night completed the loan signing of midfielder Maniche as the Portugal international linked up with Jose Mourinho for the third time in his career.

Maniche joins Chelsea from Dynamo Moscow until the end of the season, when the club will consider whether to spend up to £5million on his acquisition.

The 28-year-old midfielder, who also played under Mourinho at Benfica and Porto, will provide cover while Michael Essien is injured or away at the African Nations Cup finals.

Essien is also suspended for both legs of Chelsea’s Champions League last 16 encounter against Barcelona, having been banned by UEFA following his foul on Dietmar Hamann.

The Blues confirmed on their official website, www.chelseafc.com: “Chelsea today completed the loan signing of Portugal international midfielder Maniche.

“The 28-year-old joins until the end of the season from Dynamo Moscow. He has not played in European competition this season so is eligible for UEFA Champions League action.”

Maniche, who started his career at Benfica, played under Mourinho during the Chelsea manager’s nine-game spell in charge at the Lisbon club in 2000.

Two years later, he followed Mourinho to Porto, where they won the UEFA Cup, Champions League and two Portuguese league titles together.

Maniche also became a regular in the Portugal side, since 2003, scoring the goal of Euro 2004 against Holland in the semi-final and getting voted into the all-star squad tournament.

Last summer, he moved to Dynamo Moscow for a Russian record transfer fee of about £10million along with Porto team-mate Costinha.

However, just as Jiri Jarosik joined Chelsea from CSKA Moscow in the January transfer window, 12 months ago, Maniche has now also made the switch to Stamford Bridge.

With Mourinho having allowed Jarosik to go on loan to Birmingham - while Tiago was sold - the Chelsea boss needed extra midfield cover, especially during Essien’s impending absence.

Maniche recently revealed: “I have had offers from other big European teams but obviously once Chelsea became interested, there was only one team. I would be crazy to turn them down, because of the manager and because I have known some of the players there for years.

“Mourinho is the key to me signing, he has been after me for some time. He is my maestro. He knows me from my time at Porto and Benfica. My greatest moments in football, I owe to him and I hope to repeat this success at Chelsea.”

Mourinho last week added: “Maniche could become a historic player in my career, the only one to play under me at three different clubs - Benfica, Porto and Chelsea. He would be the final piece to give stability in a key sector.”