Chelsea have signed Portugal winger Ricardo Quaresma on loan from Inter until the end of the season, the Premier League club said yesterday.

Quaresma, a member of Portugal's Euro 2008 squad when Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari was in charge, failed to settle in Serie A after being signed by Inter boss Jose Mourinho five months ago.

The 25-year-old, Chelsea's only signing of the January transfer window that closed yesterday, joins five compatriots in the first team.

Quaresma began his career with Sporting before a move to Barcelona in 2003. He returned to Portugal to play for Mourinho's Porto, then the European champions, the following year.

Signed for 18.6 million euros ($23.76 million) from Porto in September, he made a dreadful start to his Inter career and was heckled by the team's fans during the 1-1 home draw with Torino on Sunday.

Also omitted from Inter's Champions League squad on Sunday, he was named 2008's worst Serie A player in December when he won a famous Italian radio award called the 'Golden Bin'.

Mourinho bought him in a bid to recreate the three-pronged attack that was so successful for the Portuguese coach when he was at Chelsea but after a couple of months he dropped Quaresma and reverted to a diamond formation in midfield.

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