Today: 16 years ago Michael Essien signed for Chelsea for £24.4 million
16 years ago today, Michael Essien became a Chelsea record signing when he joined for 24.4 million pounds from Lyon
Today marked exactly 16 years since Micheal Essien of Ghana signed with Premier League side Chelsea FC for a record fee of £24.4 million. He was the most expensive signing by the club at the time, smashing the fee paid to sign Ivory Coast international, Didier Drogba from Marseille the season before.
Putting into consideration the initial decision of the club to replace the irreplaceable Claude Makélélé with Micheal Essien and the furthermost task to justify the £24.4 million club-record fees, the Ghanaian midfielder was under fervid def of anxiety to justify his worth.
The midfielder made 256 appearances for Chelsea with 25 goals and 10 assists. He quickly became the fans favourite at Stamford Bridge due to his aggressive defending style and work rate and his “out of the world” scoring ratio.
Unfortunately for Essien, apropos to the end of his Premier League career, serious knee injuries seized his boots almost always which eventually led to a sputtered career in Stamford Bridge.
At his prime in Stamford Bridge, the Ghanaian Central Midfielder won two league titles, four FA Cups, one League Cup as well as the famous Champions League in 2012. His outstanding performance in 2007 won him a teaspoon of individual awards such as Chelsea’s Player Of The Year for 2007. No wonder the likes of him and Didier Drogba lured many African football lovers into supporting Chelsea FC.
Although Essien was not a fan of scoring goals, his goals remained a memory and will only be forgotten when football lives no more. A couple of such rare and memorable goals was his stunning and ill-fated strike against FC Barcelona and his late equaliser against Arsenal. These goals are still in the museum of fans memories.
He was then loaned to Real Madrid in the 2012/13 season where he reunited with Mourinho, his former boss, a man he affectionately referred to as ‘daddy’, the one responsible for his Stamford Bridge move 16 years ago.
In terms of playing for his country, the former Black Star midfield dynamo represented Ghana at the 1999 FIFA U-17 World Championship and 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship, with the latter team finishing as runner-up. Essien made his senior team debut in January 2002 and has represented his nation at three Africa Cup of Nations tournaments. Essien has also represented Ghana at the 2006 and 2014 FIFA World Cups.
By: Elisha Aberiganya | Follow us on Twitter @activtvgh
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