Kenyon confirms Wright-Phillips interest

CHELSEA chief executive Peter Kenyon has confirmed the club would be willing to consider an offer from West Ham for unsettled winger Shaun Wright-Phillips.

Kenyon revealed that the Hammers had already made an approach for the England international but that the figure was well below Chelsea’s valuation.

West Ham are thought to be prepared to pay around £10m – a fee that would shatter the record fee of £7.25m they paid to land Dean Ashton from Norwich.

The Hammers will have money to spend in the January transfer market following the takeover of the club by Icelanders Eggert Magnusson and Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson but Chelsea want to recoup a fair proportion of the £21m they paid Manchester City for the winger in July 2005.

Kenyon said: “There has been interest from West Ham and they have officially approached us. We’re not in the position of having an offer but we’ve certainly had interest expressed from them.”

Chelsea, meanwhile, are still waiting to see if Didier Drogba will be fit enough to face Manchester United in the biggest game of the season at Old Trafford tomorrow. The Ivory Coast striker suffered an ankle injury in the Champions League defeat to Werder Bremen in midweek and he did not train yesterday.

The hype surrounding tomorrow’s clash has already begun with Manchester United midfielder Cristiano Ronaldo claiming that Chelsea are no better than last year despite the arrivals of Andriy Shevchenko and Michael Ballack.

But England midfielder Frank Lampard hit back at Ronaldo’s words by claiming the pair would do their talking on the pitch instead.

The man charged with controlling the tempo of Sunday’s clash is referee Howard Webb.

Lampard has clashed with officials over comments about Chelsea’s discipline allegedly made to him by Graham Poll during their defeat at Spurs.

Lampard believes Webb is one of the best officials in the game but admits that it is hard for committed professionals to keep their tempers in check all the time.

Lampard said: “You are asking top players, professionals, who are desperate to win games, to not ever get heated and get upset at certain things – that’s hard to do.

“Of course, players have to carry themselves well and I think the only thing about surrounding the referee is that it can be done if you are speaking to him on a good basis.

“That’s what we have to try and do – try and talk to him. Howard Webb is one of the best refs and we have to make sure we don’t disrespect him.”