The ghanaian international made it to stamford bridge in the premier league, spending 9 years there, but he said the offer came so close that he even visited the training ground: “i had a lot of offers,” he said. When gerard houllier was their coach, i was close to signing for liverpool. I even went to melwood to meet the coach. We had a chat and then i returned to france, but psg, marseille, and a few others were still offering their services.’
But, i told bastia i didn’t want to move, and they didn’t want to sell me at the time because they wanted me to stay for another year, which was fine with me,” essien said. essien had only played senior football for a few years before liverpool made a bid, and his decision to decline an offer was mainly due to the fact that he was too young to move to england. I joined lyon and chelsea after mourinho took over. When i went to france, lyon was my new favorite team because they were winning everything. I told my agent that i’d like to join lyon if they have come into the picture.’
Liverpool have had plenty of near misses over the years
The merseysiders haven’t lost out on essien over the years. Former united players ole gunnar solskjaer and edwin van der sar have admitted that they may have made the switch to anfield at certain points in their careers. Alan shearer, the all-time leading premier league scorer, is also believed to have been interested in a move to liverpool, while kylian mbappe has confirmed talks from the reds in the past.
