Saturday's football rumour mill
Deco happy at Chelsea
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By Darren Estwick. |  |
Saturday, 20, Mar 2010 01:49
By Darren Estwick.
Chelsea outcast Deco has moved to quell speculation linking him with a move back to his native Brazil at the end of the season.
The midfielder has had a difficult two year spell in West London and it was thought that he would be on his way from London at the end of the season. But Deco has declared himself happy at Chelsea and confident that he can still be a part of their imminent success.
"I still have the dream of playing in Brazil but this isn't the moment for returning to my country as I am still in contract at Chelsea and I don't have it in mind to break it," said Deco.
"Besides saying that I wanted to go back to Brazil to play for Corinthians, I didn't mean that it was going to be now. I am in contract at Chelsea until June 2011."
Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has moved to reassure Stephen Ireland of his future at the club after the player found himself consigned to the substitute bench over the past few weeks. Ireland, who was voted the club's best player last season, has fallen out of favour at the Eastlands as Mancini experiments with different formations. But any chance of the player moving in the summer has been dismissed by the Italian.
He said: "I have a lot of respect for Stephen Ireland because he is a good player. In the week of the Chelsea game he had an injury. But now he has recovered and is ready to play. I have a number of options in midfield and Stephen is an important player for us."