At 27, Malouda has had to wait for his chance of a move to the Premiership but around 14m pounds paid to Lyons this month meant that he finally joined up with his friend and former teammate Didier Drogba who he played alongside at the French side Guingamp. Certainly Mourinho seemed very sure of the man for whom he has paid Chelsea's only transfer fee thus far this summer.

"Florent can adapt quickly to the needs of English football and he is a player with ambition - to come from a very good club like Lyons, he wants to change his life," Mourinho said. "I don't think it's a question of one more pound or one less pound in his bank account, it's just that he is ambitious. He played with Didier, Michael Essien and with Claude Makelele in the French national team - we know a lot about him, we have inside information."

Malouda is from Cayenne in French Guyana and came on his own to France at the age of 15 to sign as a trainee for the side Chateauroux before progressing to Guingamp and then on to Lyons in 2003. The first French Guyanan in the Premiership since Bernard Lama, he presented himself as an assured but serious soul at his first Chelsea press conference on Thursday with a reasonable grasp of the English language.

Malouda could have been forgiven for feeling a touch nervous because, as with all new Chelsea signings, he was obliged to sing a song in front of his new teammates that night. Something from the oeuvre of Shabba Ranks was on the cards and the pressure was on.

Shaun Wright-Phillips' singing was apparently so bad two years ago that some at the club think it set the tone for his performances on the pitch.

Malouda said that Chelsea were always his first choice after he came to England to watch Drogba play at Stamford Bridge. "Liverpool were the first English club to contact me - several times. [Rafa Benitez] was a very good man but we didn't find a way to make me join Liverpool," he said.

"So when Chelsea come, my choice was very simple. There were a lot of players I have already played with. I know the team very well because a lot of friends of mine play there and I used to support Chelsea in the Champions League when Lyons went out. The first match I saw in England was at Stamford Bridge, when Didi came to the club. I support them, my kids have the Chelsea shirts, and I want to be in London.

"Didier told me that with the players, he's [Mourinho] a good trainer, and if you deserve to play you will. It doesn't matter what your name is or what you did before. You have to win your place on the pitch, in the training sessions, and prove yourself during the matches. This is the only thing important to me. That's what I want to do in pre-season, win my place."

There have been no promises that Mourinho will use wingers more often this season although Malouda will have earned himself some credit with the manager when he said: "I prefer to be boring and win." He is an attacking player by reputation and certainly looks like he would have the potential to add another dimension to Chelsea - his manager's formation permitting.