The Portuguese international left the Blaugrana after four seasons to join Chelsea on a three-year deal.
Despite some suspecting that the playmaker chose Chelsea over Internazionale due to money, he has rejected such claims, adding that he had more lucrative offers that he turned down to join the Blues. The Brazilian-born midfielder had the chance to reunite with Jose Mourinho in Milan, the man who made him famous at Porto, but has instead linked up with Luiz Felipe Scolari, who has of course just finished with Portugal to head to Stamford Bridge.
“If I wanted to go somewhere for the money I wouldn’t have come to Chelsea,” insisted Deco, 30.
“There were many other places that offered much more money, the money I wanted I could have gone to Saudi Arabia or the United States.
“It’s not about the money. Obviously money is important but not that important, I have plenty of money, more than I need, so for me I wanted to go to a place where I could have better objectives and to still have this challenge to win games.
“If I wanted money I could have stayed in Barcelona - I had two years left on my contract, which was a lovely contract.
“It was a sunny and lovely place to live but I want to have new challenges, more objectives and the will to win more trophies - and that is why I came to Chelsea. If it was for money I would have gone somewhere else.”
Of Chelsea’s Champions League heartbreak in Moscow, he said: “I saw the final and Chelsea were much better in the second half but that is the way the Champions League is, you need a bit of luck.
“I hope that not only do I bring luck but we have the luck that was missing last time around.”
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