Chelsea legend Michael Essien admits that some convincing from Didier Drogba was all it took to get him to reject Manchester United.

The former Ghanian midfielder was wanted by both Chelsea and United in 2005.

But it was the Blues who nabbed Essien from Lyon, even though Sir Alex Ferguson wanted him to take over from Roy Keane.

"My second year at Lyon, when we finished the season, I came back to start pre-season with them and I came back very happy to start pre-season. That's when the other teams started coming in like Chelsea and Manchester United," Essien told South African reporter Carol Tshabalala.

"At that point I'd have loved to have joined United. But I was speaking with Jose every other day and he made it clear, very straight to me, that he wanted me to join Chelsea and there was only Chelsea that could pay the transfer fee at that time.

"It was not easy but I remember the first time I spoke to Jose. I went to Malouda's house for a barbeque, and then during the barbeque, Drogba called him and he and Drogba started speaking because they are very close and then Drogba asked him, "When you see Michael, whenever you see him, can you tell him Jose wants his number, Jose wants to talk to him?" but then he said, "No, Michael is here, we're having a barbeque!".

"So he gave the phone to me and I started speaking to Drogba and that's how we started. I passed on my number to him and he passed it on to Jose and that's when everything started. It was a tough transfer saga."