English Premier League - Player Profile: Michael Essien
A powerhouse of a midfielder, Michael Essien plays for Chelsea in the English Premier League and is known by the nick name of Bison due to his aggressive playing style. His most recognizable position is as a box to box midfielder but he has also been deployed as a right back and as a defensive midfielder as well.
Essien was born in Accra, Ghana and started playing football after he graduated from St.Augustine’s College in Cape Coast, Ghana. He first played for a local club in his native country called Liberty Professionals. His performances for Liberty were quite impressive and thus he was picked up by the Ghanaian youth setup to participate for his national football team in the 1999 U-17 FIFA World Cup.
At the youth World Cup, a lot of scouts from big European names such as Lyon and Manchester United were present. After the tournament Bison was awarded a trial at Manchester United in April of 2000 but the coaches at Old Trafford were not awed by the Essien’s performances and thus he was not given a professional contract.
In the summer of 2000, Essien was given an opportunity to play for the French club Bastia, which the Ghanaian youngster readily accepted. At the start of his career in France, Michael struggled to find himself a regular starting position, sometimes he was played by his managers in defense while other times he was played as a midfielder.
In the 2002-2003 season, Essien helped Bastia qualify for the UEFA Cup after scoring six goals for them, following the 2002-3003 season, Lyon made an offer of eight million Euros to Bastia for their African youngster. Bastia readily accepted and cashed in on their young asset. During his time at Lyon, Essien usually played in a defensive midfielder role and was part of the Lyon team which won their third and fourth consecutive French division one league football titles also known as Ligue 1. In 2005, Bison was voted as the player of the year by French national Union of Professional footballers.
In August of 2005, Chelsea with their new owner Abramovich made an approach for Essien and Lyon accepted their titanic bid of 26 million pounds for the young midfielder. Michael made his debut in the English Premier League for Chelsea in their game against rivals Arsenal on 21st of August 2005. His full debut came against West Bromwich Albion and also made an appearance for Chelsea against Sunderland when he replaced Claude Makelele on 10th of September, 2005. In his first season at the London club, Essien played 31 English premier league games and also made 11 appearances in other competitions such as UEFA Champions League, F.A Cup and Carling Cup.
Michael’s first goal for Chelsea came on 11th of March, 2006 in a 2-1 victory for Tottenham Hotspurs. Essien has been quite successful at Chelsea and has won every trophy in England apart from the UEFA Champions League, however 2009-2010 season was quite disappointing for the energetic Ghanaian because he was sidelined for a large part of the season because of a knee injury. He also missed out on the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa due to this injury.
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