SHORT HILLS, New Jersey - England soccer winger Shaun Wright-Phillips cost Chelsea a "crazy" amount of money, the English champions' manager Jose Mourinho said on Wednesday.
Mourinho was asked why the 23-year-old Wright-Phillips was worth £21 million ($54.91 million).
"Because the English market is crazy," Mourinho told a news conference
on Wednesday.
But the club may be prepared to pay even more for Olympique Lyon midfielder Michael Essien.
"Discussions are ongoing," Chelsea spokesman Simon Greenberg said.
The French champions have placed a 45 million euro ($81.68 million) price tag on the Ghana international's head.
Wright-Phillips, the stepson of former Arsenal and England striker Ian Wright, made his international debut 11 months ago and hopes playing for Chelsea will earn him a place in the squad for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
He faces stiff competition for a place in the team, however. Chelsea have two outstanding wingers in Dutchman Arjen Robben and Ireland's Damien Duff, as well as England's Joe Cole.
Mourinho believes Wright-Phillips will be versatile.
"I think he can be more a pure winger than our other players are... and he can play from the inside as well," Mourinho said.
Mourinho brushed off suggestions he might have a surplus of wingers, saying he was prompted to buy Wright-Phillips after a spate of injuries to Robben and Duff last season.
"I felt at some moments in the last season we didn't have a pure winger on the right side," Mourinho said.
Chelsea are touring the United States for pre-season matches against AC Milan in Boston and New York, and DC United in Washington.
- REUTERS
