Arsenal supporters, look away now. Chelsea have agreed to sign Juliano Belletti from Barcelona – the player who scored the winner in the 2006 Champions League final, when the Catalan club came from behind to beat Arsène Wenger’s side 2-1.

At a reported £3.75 million, Belletti, 31, is a cut-price, and perhaps temporary answer to Chelsea’s problems at right back, where Michael Essien has been used as emergency cover. The Brazil defender, who joined Barcelona from Villarreal in 2004, has 20 caps for his country but made only 13 first-team appearances for Barcelona last season thanks to competition for his place from Gianluca Zambrotta. However, it may be a case of any port in a storm with the transfer window soon to close and no sign of the resurrection of the deal to bring Daniel Alves, of Seville, to Stamford Bridge.

Belletti holds an Italian passport, so is able to circumvent restrictions on nonEuropean Union players. Chelsea fans will hope that he is more successful than Winston Bogarde, the last defender to move between the clubs.

Meanwhile, Arjen Robben, who left Chelsea for Real Madrid on Wednesday, was presented in Madrid yesterday along with Gabriel Heinze, who moved to the Bernabéu from Manchester United. “For me, it was a big relief when the final word came that I could join Real Madrid,” Robben, 23, said. “After a while, I felt I wasn’t getting the confidence I needed from them [Chelsea]. That is when I started to change my mind about staying there. If a club like Real show an interest, that makes things easy.

“You compare the feeling of confidence coming from Chelsea and from Real and you go where you think you will be most happy.” Could Chelsea have done more to keep him? “In the early stages, yes,” Robben said. “It’s been a really difficult time. I have been waiting to come to Real since the first day back at training with Chelsea. There have been many times when I thought I would be joining Real the next day, but it wasn’t to be.”

The Dutchman’s appearance was delayed, courtesy of a lengthy medical on the winger, who spent most of last season injured. Around 5,000 people greeted his eventual arrival and that of Heinze, who believes that United fans will forgive him for requesting a transfer to Liverpool.

“Manchester United fans are not stupid,” he said. “They will not forget everything that I did for the club and everything we won together. I am not worried about their reaction. I only did what I felt would bring about a solution that in the end was not to be. I never thought Real would be my final destination.”

Bruce Buck, the Chelsea chairman, expressed the club’s pleasure at doubling their money over three years on Robben, for whom Real paid an estimated £24.5 million. “We got a very good business result there,” Buck said.

Rafael BenÍtez, the Liverpool manager, had been convinced that Heinze would move to Anfield, but is now concerned that he will be unable to find a suitable replacement before the closing of the transfer window – ideally a player who can perform both at left back or in central defence.

“We need to analyse the situation because it’s not easy to find a player of the quality of Heinze,” he said. “I really don’t know what will happen now. We’ll have to see if there are any opportunities now but it’s not easy.”

BenÍtez also accused Chelsea of breaking a preseason gentlemen’s agreement between managers not to harass referees this season. Pressure from José Mourinho’s team, he believes, contributed to the incorrect decision by Rob Styles to award a penalty in the 1-1 draw between the clubs at Anfield on Sunday.

“I was surprised because there were too many players putting the referee under pressure,” BenÍtez said. “He was in a very difficult situation. He was under pressure all the time and it was difficult for him to be calm and do the right things all the time.”

Dynamo Kiev, the Ukrainian champions, hope to sign Andriy Shevchenko, their former striker, on loan from Chelsea. Igor Surkis, the Dynamo president, said: “I’ve asked Shevchenko to ask his board to let him go to Dynamo [Kiev] on loan. If we qualify for the Champions League group stage, we’ll have only 24 hours to do all the paperwork.”