Real delight for Cicinho

Cicinho has announced that he has signed a five-year contract with Real Madrid.

Sao Paulo star Cicinho has announced that he has signed a five-year contract with Real Madrid after being awarded an Italian passport which will not see him take up one of the non-EU places at the Bernabeu.

The Brazilian international said he was determined to repay Madrid's faith in him and cannot wait to team up with his compatriots, Ronaldo, Robinho, Roberto Carlos and Julio Baptista in Spain.

Only recently Cicinho's lawyer Giovanna Cipoletti checked into the player's background and discovered that he had a great-great grandfather who was Italian and set the wheels in motion for dual-citizenship.

It would appear things worked out as planned for the player as he claims a deal has been struck with Real.

"I have signed a contract for five years with Real Madrid," Cicinho, whose full name is Pica Joao De Cesare, explained. "Now I really want to show the club that they were right to sign me.

"I will do everything I can to win people over in Spain and be admired like I am here at home."

His ancestors came from Mandela in the Lazio region and then moved to Abruzzo before leaving for Brazil and Cicinho is very proud of his roots.

"Italy is much admired by Brazilian people," he said. "I did not know that I had Italian forefathers until quite recently and began to find out little things about where my family came from.

"Then I studied how I could apply for European citizenship and I discovered that I was eligible thanks to the help of my lawyer and some friends who found out the information."

Cicinho signed the documents in Potenza Picena along with Cipoletti and his agent, Fernando Benedini.

The right-sided defender, who is seen as the natural successor to Cafu, revealed that he had signed a pre-contract with Madrid in August.