TNT Sports
Essien left out
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Published 06/08/2005 at 20:27 GMT+1
Olympique Lyon's Michael Essien, who is being chased by Chelsea, has been left out of the team for a league match on Sunday. But Lyon coach Gerard Houllier but denied British media reports that the Ghana midfielder was on strike.
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"Michael has a good attitude," the former Liverpool manager said on the club's website.
"Maybe he's on a hunger strike, like I've read in the press, but he's not on strike when it comes to training.
"I am not selecting him because his mind is not set on football," Houllier added.
"I believe that he is not ready to play a match and will not be for as long has his case is not settled."
Essien, who has not played an official match for Lyon this season, has said he wants to go to Chelsea. Houllier had said previously that Essien would be in the team for Sunday's match.
Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas has given the English Premier League champions two more days to make a suitable offer.
"It will happen this weekend or it will not happen at all," Aulas told Saturday's issue of the regional weekly Le Progres.
Chelsea have been chasing Essien for weeks but the French champions have said they will not let him go for under 45 million euros.
Aulas said he had had another meeting with Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon on Friday.
"It (what Chelsea are offering) still does not correspond to what we wish even if Chelsea have made the effort to include in the negotiations a player we're interested in," Aulas added.
He did not say who the player was but Lyon officials have recently expressed an interest in Portugal midfielder Tiago.
"Tiago is a player that I know and I'm interested in," Houllier said on Saturday.
"If Michael were to leave us, we would lose a great player.
"There are five or six players in Europe in his class," added Houllier, who named Liverpool's Steven Gerrard and Chelsea's Frank Lampard in that group.
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