Paulo Ferreira
Thursday, 04 June 2009 22:03
Nationality Potuguese
D.O.B. 18/01/1979
Height 6' 0"
Weight 76.00kg
Previous Clubs Porto
Position Defender
In 2004, José Mourinho paid a then British record £13.2 million fee for a full-back to purchase the defender who had walked the road to Champions League glory with him at Porto.
Both player and manager had also won league titles in Portugal and were immediately into the winning groove in England, Paulo one of the major reasons why the Chelsea defence suffocated so many attacks in that first campaign.
A broken foot in March 2005 removed him from the action but by then he had already won the Carling Cup and played his part on Chelsea's route to a first championship in 50 years and a record-breaking defensive season.
With consistent and solid defending, the young Paulo had become an international within six months of signing for Porto from lower table side Vitória Setubal - although his nation's big party in the summer of Euro 2004 fell flat for him.
He was dropped after a mistake in the opening game, only returning midway through Portugal's Final defeat by Greece.
However he had been voted the best right-back in Europe the previous season and immediately became first choice on arriving at The Bridge.
In his second season, he was a less regular choice with William Gallas and later Gérémi often preferred at right-back.
He made 18+3 league appearances on the way to a second title and remained a full-back of choice in the Champions League. He played in midfield in an FA Cup semi-final defeat by Liverpool.
That season Paulo at last scored his first goal since moving to a top level club, in the FA Cup v Colchester. In the World Cup that followed, he was a second-choice selection for his nation.
In August 2006, Gallas departed with new competition arriving in the shape of Khalid Boulahrouz. Paulo was just as likely to be found at stand-in centre-back as right-back in the early part of 2006/07 but he came back strongly.
In the second half of the campaign he regained the right-back shirt regularly and capped a return to his best form by playing a big part in subduing the celebrated Cristiano Ronaldo in the FA Cup Final.
He had also adapted to become Portugal's first choice at left-back, a position he filled throughout Euro 2008 until the quarter-final defeat by Germany, and with some justification, he could point to a push by club-mate Michael Ballack when attempting to defend the winning goal.
The domestic season that preceded the summer tournament followed a familiar pattern of sporadic activity.
Largely unemployed in the final weeks of the Mourinho era, Avram Grant selected Paulo in his first side and he then shared duties with recently-arrived Juliano Belletti, filling in on the left too when Ashley Cole and Wayne Bridge were both out.
That was until an injury in Carling Cup action in October led to five weeks on the treatment table himself.
In the closing months of the season, he was increasingly preferred to the more attacking nature of Belletti, including in the big league game against Man United late in the season. However Michael Essien was the right-back selected for the Champions League Final, the Portuguese not making the bench.
In February 2008, Paulo signed a new five-year contract, ensuring his place in the squad under his former international manager Luiz Felipe Scolari. Under the Brazilian, Paulo's first-team opportunities have been limited due to the outstanding form of Bosingwa and the versatility of Branislav Ivanovic.
