CHELSEA chief Peter Kenyon has dismissed Manchester United’s swoop for Carlos Tevez and said: We’re not worried by them at all. Kenyon has also amazingly already written off Liverpool and Arsenal as title challengers. Alex Ferguson is poised to take his summer spending spree to a whopping £70million with a move for Argentine international Tevez. The United manager has already splashed out £50m on Owen Hargreaves, Anderson and Nani and will spend another £20m to get Tevez.Jose Mourinho’s new arrivals — Steve Sidwell, Claudio Pizarro, Tal Ben Haim and Alex — have all been free transfers after owner Roman Abramovich ordered cut-backs. But Mourinho is set to break his spending duck with the arrival of £15m French winger Florent Malouda next week. And Kenyon is adamant that will be enough to win back the Premiership title from United after dismissing the chances of Liverpool and Arsenal.
He said: “United’s spending this summer has surprised everyone. The money they’ve spent and the way they’ve come out of the blocks so quickly has been a surprise. “But that’s their business. I’m not worried at all about what they’ve spent. “They can do what they want and we’re very happy with where we are.
“I spoke to Jose on Tuesday and he’s very confident and happy with the squad he’s got. This is very much Jose’s wish in terms of what he wanted. “We don’t believe that spending a lot of money on any one player this year will add any benefit. “But if the right players become available, the money to buy them is available.
“We are currently in dialogue with Lyon over Florent Malouda and it would be nice to conclude that deal before we go to the USA next week. “I’m optimistic he’ll be joining us at some point out there. “After that, I honestly don’t think we need anyone else. “We’ve strengthened the squad and the last one we’re looking at is Malouda. And we’re sort of there with that one.”
The Malouda deal comes after Liverpool’s £21.5m swoop for Fernando Torres and Arsenal’s £10m capture of Eduardo Da Silva this week. But Kenyon insisted: “It’s still a two-horse race. In terms of winning the title next season I think it’s between us and United.
“Liverpool have spent a lot of money strengthening and will always be a threat. Spurs have spent a lot and Arsenal will be one of the top four again. “But we still see United as our No 1 rivals.” Kenyon insisted the Blues are not about to be weakened by players sales. He added: “We’ve had no offers for any of our our players and if we got them we’d reject them.
“I’m not embarrassed about the contracts we’ve signed and the wages we’re paying. And I’m confident all the players are committed to Chelsea.”
