Chelsea Football Club is delighted to announce that we have signed Inter Milan winger Ricardo Quaresma on loan until the end of the season. The Premier League have confirmed the deal.

Quaresma joins us as the sixth Portuguese player in the first team squad, following the summer arrivals of José Bosingwa and Deco, who have also worked under manager Luiz Felipe Scolari at international level.

The 25-year-old winger can play on either flank, with his qualities of speed and finesse a regular problem for opposing defences.

Born in Lisbon on September 26, 1983, Ricardo Andrade Quaresma Bernardo began his career with local club Sporting, making his debut as a 17-year-old.

While at Sporting, he worked his way into the first team and became a regular during the championship-winning 2001/02 season alongside Cristiano Ronaldo.

He made 59 league appearances in two seasons, scoring eight goals, before Barcelona approached for his services in the summer of 2003, paying six million Euros to secure his signature.

His time at the Catalan club yielded only a handful of starts, and an injury towards the end of the season saw the youngster miss out on Euro 2004 in his home country. Following the tournament, he returned to Portugal with Porto, just as Deco was heading to Barcelona.

He quickly settled, scoring in the 2004 Uefa Super Cup defeat against Valencia, and was regarded during his four-year stay at Porto as one of the league's most potent weapons.

Quaresma's form in the 2005/06, 2006/07 and 2007/08 campaigns helped seal a succession of league championships, and regular Champions League football.

He is no stranger to Stamford Bridge, having played four times as a Porto player against the Blues, twice in 2004/05 and twice again two years later.

Quaresma

In March 2007, Quaresma opened the scoring at the Bridge, before goals from Arjen Robben and Michael Ballack sealed our progression into the quarter-finals.

After 124 league appearances and 24 goals, Quaresma was bought by Inter Milan last summer, one of José Mourinho's first signings for the club.

Now, the 5'8 playmaker has the opportunity to rekindle his relationship with Scolari, who utilised his services in Euro 2008, where he scored the most recent of his three international goals, in a 3-1 win over Petr Cech's Czech Republic side.

Quaresma becomes our first and only signing of the winter transfer window, and will stay with us until the end of the season.