Kenyon said: “It’s critical Frank stays. We don’t want to lose a player of his calibre, why would we?
“You can go right the way through the team. Where would you find a better keeper than Petr Cech? Where would you find a better central defender than John Terry or a better midfielder than Frank?
“How do you replace them with that level of quality.
“We see Frank as a Chelsea player for the long term. We’ve had initial discussions and expect to enter serious negotiations quickly.
“We’ve made it quite clear we want Frank to stay with us and he’s made it quite clear he wants to stay. That’s a great basis for finalising a contract.
“I’m sure we will conclude it before the end of the season.
“As for the FIFA rule – there is a test case going through FIFA at the moment so it is not black and white.”
