kenyon a indiqué que chelsea avait prévue d'acheter les deux midfielders.
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Blues wanted Gerrard & Essien - Kenyon
Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon has revealed the club's pursuit of Michael Essien never wavered even during their attempt to sign Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard.
Essien finally completed his protracted £24.4m move from Lyon on Friday and Kenyon insisted Chelsea would not have lost interest in the 22-year-old even if Gerrard had opted to move south this summer.
Asked whether the club's interest in Essien pre-dated the Gerrard bid, Kenyon said: "[It was] pre-Gerrard to be fair. The Gerrard situation came in amidst discussions that had already started with Lyon, so I don't think it put us off.
"We were always committed and confident that it would come through. In many ways the Gerrard thing was something that appeared - we needed to address that situation, but it never pulled us off our task of getting Michael Essien as a Chelsea player."
The process of signing Essien dragged on throughout the summer and was accompanied by numerous public pronouncements by Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas regarding the progress - or lack of it - between the clubs, and Kenyon admitted it made life "difficult" at times.
"Some of the comments were unnecessary, I don't think they did anything for anybody," he told Chelsea TV.
"It's easy for us to keep quiet, you just don't say anything, but it makes the whole process difficult, clearly positions get taken and the press is not always helpful in these situations.
"It's almost as though every move you do make, or even what's the move you don't make, is in the press and it's never that helpful in reaching an agreement that's to everyone's satisfaction.
"I hope that a lot of [the comments] were speculation and not truth. But we respect what they have done, they have an ex-Premiership manager [Gerard Houllier] there now and I'm sure he is looking to build them towards better things.
"Lyon is a big club, they have had a great record. They have won four titles on the trot and are going for a fifth and they have established themselves in the Champions League.
"They are a big club and we respect all our counterparts whether they're in England or across Europe."
Kenyon sees the signing of the Ghana international as another "investment" by Chelsea in one of the world's most highly-rated talents.
"What we've been doing over the last 18 months is investing and that's how we've got to look at this," the former Manchester United chief executive added.
"He's not 30, he is early 20s, he has already established himself in the French league and we have seen what a big influence French players have had over several years.
"I think we are seeing this as a long-term relationship between Michael Essien and English football. We're not buying an old player with two or three years left, we're buying a player that we think will be a significant part of Chelsea's success over the next several years."
Essien is hoping to play some part in Sunday's clash with Arsenal, but has not featured in any of Lyon's league matches so far with Houllier loathe to play him while his future remained uncertain.
"I'm sure I'm ready because I trained normally with the team. When the transfer was going through I did not play but apart from that time my fitness has been OK," he said.
"I don't know much about Arsenal. It's going to be a tough game on Sunday and I hope Chelsea will win.
"It's a very difficult game, but we are playing at home and I think we will take advantage."
source : teamtalk
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Les 4 meilleurs MDC du monde dans un même club... Vois pas bien l'intéret moi 