I loved Desailly at Chelsea, as central defenders go, he really was like a brick wall and since he’s left, he’s been supportive whilst still generally honest in his opinions about us. Still, it’s fair to say he’s just gone up a bit more in my estimation with the news that he turned down both United and Liverpool to sign for us in the first place.
Desailly came to Chelsea for £4.6 million in 1998 and went on to captain us, playing over 150 games in his six years with the club – and yet it might never have happened at all according to the former Chelsea man, who says “In 1996, I signed a pre-contract agreement with Manchester United. I spoke to Alex Ferguson on the phone. I was free! Bosman had just happened. So I was a free transfer! I won’t go into why it didn’t happen but if I had joined them I would have won several more titles! The challenge at Chelsea was interesting, though.”
Bloody cheek! Typical honesty of Desailly though because as much as we might not want to hear he’d have got more success out of United, we can’t exactly argue the point. Still, for whatever reason it was us he chose, knocking Liverpool back as well in the process, as he explains “The club was building, looking to go places and needed big-name players. Liverpool had come in for me, too, but I needed to have a French school nearby for my children. So I opted for London for Chelsea, for family reasons and for the quality of life.”
Er…..and for the honour of playing for us Marcel obviously?!
Blue is the colour
