Mendes faces club v country row after €12m move

TIAGO MENDES touched down in the United States with his new team-mates yesterday and walked straight into a potential club-versus-country row.

The 23-year-old midfielder, who put pen to paper on a reported €12 million transfer from Benfica late on Tuesday, has been called up into the Portugal squad for the Olympic Games.

His selection for would make him unavailable for the opening three weeks of the new campaign, with the tournament starting on August 11 and the gold medal match scheduled for August 28.

Portugal's Olympic squad - which also includes Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo and Fulham's Luis Boa Morte - is set to meet up on August 1, before flying to Greece a week later.

That would rule the young midfielder out of the final match of the three-game tour to America, which begins against Celtic in Seattle on Saturday. They then face Roma in Pittsburgh on July 29 before completing their tour with a match against AC Milan in Philadelphia on Monday, August 2.

While the Olympics is an important, FIFA-sanctioned tournament, Chelsea may yet make a request to the Portuguese football association that Mendes be excluded from the squad.

Whatever the outcome of the discussions, the young midfielder is determined to become an integral part of the set-up at Stamford Bridge.

"I can play as either a defensive, or attacking midfielder," he said.

"It depends on what the coach wants. He will give me a mission and I will try to do what he wants. I can play in every place.

"There are big players in my position, but I go to work - then Jose Mourinho will decide.

"Last season was fantastic for me and I hope that here at Chelsea I will score more goals."

Like fellow new signing Paulo Ferreira, Mendes admits the chance to link up with Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho was a big attraction.

"He is a great coach," reflected Mendes. "He has won everything with Porto and in Portugal he is the king of the trainers.

"He has now come here, and I hope he can bring the title to Chelsea."

Ferreira only arrived in London earlier this week after an extended break following Euro 2004, before swiftly jetting off to the USA.