Kenyon unconcerned by United spending

Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon remains confident ahead of the new season despite Manchester United taking over as the Premier League’s big spenders.

Kenyon, who previously worked at Old Trafford, admits United’s bold moves into the transfer market has come as a surprise but insists he and boss Jose Mourinho are satisfied with their work as they look to wrest the title back.

Steve Sidwell, Tal Ben Haim and Claudio Pizarro have already been recruited, with Brazil defender Alex set to join from PSV Eindhoven and negotiations continuing with Lyon for Florent Malouda.

It marks a change in policy from the heavy spending of previous seasons, with Kenyon underlining the club’s determination to eventually be self-sufficient rather than reliant on the billions of owner Roman Abramovich.

United, in contrast, have bought Owen Hargreaves, Nani and Anderson, as well as attempting to tie up a deal with Carlos Tevez.

“I think it surprised everybody how quick they came out and what they spent,” said Kenyon.

“I’m not worried about what we’ve spent. We always look at how they’ve spent versus how we’ve spent and that’s fine but I don’t think it’s all about money.

“We’re happy with where we are. We’ve not gone for big signings and not got them, we have our list and have three out of the four on the list.

“There is money and we’re going to spend money on Malouda. If there are players we feel are right there is money available to spend on those. This is very much Jose’s wish in terms of what he wanted.”

Another signing in the backroom staff is Avram Grant, who was technical director at Portsmouth.

“It’s fair to say that we would expect to making an announcement with him joining us in the next few days,” said Kenyon.

Chelsea are also negotiating new contracts for Frank Lampard and John Terry, with a degree of uncertainty over their futures at the club while discussions continue.

Kenyon has not received bids for the pair and insists any approach would be rejected.

“Revenue from the sale of those players is not even factored into our thinking,” he added. “They are all professional, we’re professional and you couldn’t put a value on them saying we’re going to sell them. I expect them to stay.”

Kenyon also distanced the club from a move for Tottenham’s Pascal Chimbonda and Sevilla’s Dani Alves, who are both right-backs.

“We’ve got Glen Johnson coming back, Paulo (Ferreira) and Ben Haim can cover right-back as can (Lassana) Diarra.”

Kenyon and Abramovich were in Cobham, Surrey, to open new state-of-the-art training facilities, which is part of their plan to develop players as well recruit top internationals.

“The importance of English footballers and homegrown talent is critical to meeting UEFA requirements and what we think is the culture of Chelsea,” Kenyon said. “It’s critical to not have to spend £50million every year.

“Hopefully some of those lads we’re bringing in now will make it into the first team. That is a conscious plan.

“If we’re looking for a payback from the training facilities, it’s getting one of our young boys into the first team every year after a period of time. That is the challenge of our academy and what this is all about.”