Former Ghana midfielder, Michael Essien has revealed that he was close of joining Liverpool before his move to fellow Premier League side.
Essien joined the London-based club in 2005 from French Ligue side, Olympique Lyon.
The midfielder became one of the fans’ favourites and was a mainstay for almost 10 years, winning two Premier League titles, a Champions League as well as three FA Cups, and a League Cup.
Speaking on Instagram Live, Essien revealed that he went to Melwood to see the then-Liverpool coach, Gerard Houllier but decided to join Jose Mourinho at Chelsea.
“I had a lot of offers. I was close to signing for Liverpool when Gerard Houllier was their coach. I even went to Melwood to meet the coach,” he said.
“We had a talk, and I returned to France, but the offers were still coming from PSG, Marseille and a few others. But, I told Bastia I didn’t want to move, and they also didn’t want to sell me at that time because they wanted me to stay for another year, which was fine with me.
“I thought it was too early to move to England that was why I joined Lyon and later moved to Chelsea under Mourinho. Lyon was my favourite team when I went to France because they were winning everything. I told my agent that if Lyon have come into the picture, I’d like to join them,” he added.
Essien went on to play for Real Madrid, AC Milan and a host of other European clubs.