Chelsea complete Quaresma loan deal

CHELSEA have signed Portugal winger Ricardo Quaresma from Inter Milan on a loan deal for the rest of the season.

Quaresma, nicknamed ‘Mustang’ for his speed and power, will be the sixth Portuguese player in Luiz Felipe Scolari’s first-team squad.

His arrival will help to compensate for the loss of injured England midfielder Joe Cole who is out for the rest of the season with knee ligament damage.

The 25-year-old can play on either flank and began his career with local club Sporting Lisbon.

He soon worked his way into the first team and became a regular during the championship-winning 2001/02 season alongside Cristiano Ronaldo, now with Manchester United.

Quaresma made 59 league appearances in two seasons before joining Barcelona but his time atthe Nou Camp was hampered by injury. He returned to Portugal with Porto and his form helped the club to seal a succession of league triumphs.

Quaresma was one of Jose Mourinho’s first signings for Inter but now he has the opportunity to rekindle his relationship with Scolari.

The Brazilian knows the winger well from his time as Portugal manager. He selected the winger for Euro 2008, where Quaresma scored the most recent of his three international goals, in a 3-1 win over Petr Cech’s Czech Republic side.

Elsewhere, Portugal mid-fielder Miguel Veloso will remain at Sporting Lisbon after the club rejected bids fromBarclays Premier League outfits Bolton and Newcastle.

The 22-year-old Veloso, whois struggling to make an impact at Sporting this season, expressed an interest in playing abroad during the transfer window.

Veloso missed training yesterday, fuelling speculation that he wouldbe leaving Sporting, but the club made it clear they want him to stay.

“Miguel Veloso remains at Sporting,” Veloso’s agent, Paulo Barbosa said. “He missed the training session for personal reasons; nothing to do with the course of the negotiations.”

Sporting snubbed an offer from Bolton reported to be worth €12m) while the Magpies also tabled a bid, according toBarbosa.

“Newcastle have made a written offer but Sporting have rejected it also,” he said.

Barbosa revealed Veloso had been left frustrated at Sporting’s decision to retain his services despite the fact he was left of out of side for Saturday’s league clash with Trofense.

“He is a young man who has been given a good chance to progress abroad, and due to a lack of agreement he has to stay,” he said.

“Obviously he is disappointed, but life must move on. This is what a footballer’s life is like.”

Meanwhile on a busy transfer deadline day Brazilian striker Jo moved from Manchester City to Everton on loan until the end of the season.

Charles N’Zogbia moved to Wigan from Newcastle, with Ryan Taylor moving in the opposite direction. Wigan boss Steve Bruce also allowed Henri Camara to be loaned out to Stoke.

Angelos Basinas joined Portsmouth from AEK Athens but his new club pulled out of a deal to sign Giovani dos Santos from Spurs.

Fulham had a busy final day of the window, with Olivier Dacourtarriving on loan from Inter Milan and Julian Gray remaining until the end of the season.

Adrian Leijer moved to Norwich on loan.

West Brom made two signings in Juan Carlos Menseguez and Youssouf Mulumbu.

Calum Davenport moved from West Ham to Sunderland on loan until the end of the season, while Peterborough signed Manchester United centre-back James Chester on a one-month loan deal.

In the Coca-Cola Championship, Wolves completed the signing of Hearts captain Christophe Berra and Norwich signed Rangers forward Alan Gow on loan until the end of the season.

Sunderland’s Michael Chopra also returned to Cardiff on loan until the end of the season.