Luiz Felipe Scolari feels that Deco is the closest player who can associate himself with French legend Zinedine Zidane.

The new Chelsea incumbent, who forked out US$16 million for the Portuguese schemer, has been quickly rewarded with a string of excellent displays which have culminated in Deco's double strikes in the Blues' two Premier League outings.

While club chief executive Peter Kenyon has already heralded Deco as the bargain of the summer, Scolari went one notch higher and suggested that Deco can be perched onto the Zizou throne.

"Our other players benefit because of the way Deco plays," the Chelsea manager said.

"Other teams want to try and mark him out of the game with one or two players and that makes more space for us."

"His team-mates understand that, and that gives him more confidence to play in his style."

"Deco, obviously, is not Zidane, but he is very similar. You expect one thing and then it changes. That is very important."

"For me, he is one of the best players in the world, with players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi."

Scolari added: "I wouldn't ask him if he has the potential to be the best player in the world, but I think inside his mind he thinks that."

"But he won't talk too much about it."

The fact that Scolari holds Deco in such regard should come as no surprise as the man nicknamed the "Bus Conductor" - for the way he takes charge of a game, has been made as the fulcrum of Scolari's Portugal outfit for five years.

While critics sniped that the former Barcelona playmaker would be kicked to lumps in the ferocious and physical nature of the Premier League, Scolari insisted that Deco's upbringing on the rough streets of the Sao Paulo satellite town of Sao Bernardo do Campo will always ensure the midfield wizard never loses his roots.

He said: "He is too smart, too clever for people to kick him out of a game. He was not a rich man. He was poor as a boy, from very humble beginnings. He played on the street, so he knows what it is like to be kicked. He is streetwise."

As the former Brazilian World Cup winning coach gets ready to take charge of his first derby encounter against Tottenham, he shed light on a whole new dimension of derbies from his homeland.

He said: "Derbies in Brazil are very emotional. They are crazy, even more crazy than you would think. "

Many of the fans just go to fight. They do not watch the game, they just go to the stadium and watch the other fans."

"But the passion here is to sing and cheer the players, even if they are not playing so well."