who is micheal essien?

Answer 1

Michael Essien is the Ghanaian midfielder, currently plays for Chelsea in the English Premier League.

Answer 2

Michael Essien (born December 3, 1982 in Accra, Ghana) is a Ghanaian football player. He currently plays for Chelsea F.C. in England. He is an all-action box-to-box central midfielder and plays as a deep-lying playmaker for Ghana.

Answer 3

There is more than one Micheal Essien. Which one?

Answer 4

MICHAEL ESSIEN IS A PLAYER WHO PLAYS IN THE MIELD FIELD AT CHELSEA AS HIS CLUB AND GHANA AS HIS COUNTRY

Answer 5

Chelsea midfielder who also plays for Ghana

Answer 6

Chelsea midfielder.......
and plays for Ghana (who qualified for their first WC this year)

Answer 7

Michael Essien (born December 3, 1982 in Accra, Ghana) is a Ghanaian football player. He currently plays for Chelsea F.C. in England. He is an all-action box-to-box central midfielder and plays as a deep-lying playmaker for Ghana.

He began his career in a local club in his native Ghana, called Liberty Professionals. He broke through when he played in the Under-17 World Cup in 1999 in New Zealand. This led to considerable attention from European scouts.

In July 1999, Bastia, a club from Corsica in France, signed Essien. At Bastia, he was not very regular, playing at right back, left back and central defense. Then because of an injury to one of his teammates, he was given a temporary opportunity to play in central midfield. Essien played very well in this role. In 2001, even though he was one of the youngest players in the tournament, he took part in the World Youth Championship in Argentina, and performed exceptionally well. He made his Ghana senior debut in the 2002 African Nations Cup.

Soon he was compared to Frenchman Patrick Vieira because of his ability to go from box to box. In 2002/2003 season he brought Bastia into the UEFA Cup. He scored 6 goals that season. He became physically stronger and a harder tackler. Soon Paris Saint-Germain, Lyon and Marseille made offers for him. He was not only popular in France, but also in England. Both major Merseyside teams, Liverpool and Everton, made offers for him.

PSG made the best offer and Bastia accepted it, but Essien rejected it, and moved to Lyon. At Lyon, Essien played more defensive midfield, featuring regularly in the Lyon team that won the third and fourth of their current string of five consecutive Ligue 1 titles.

In August 2005, Essien declared that he would "go on strike" against Lyon because of the club's refusal to transfer him to English Premiership champions Chelsea. It was announced on 14 August that Lyon and Chelsea had agreed a £26m fee for the Ghanaian, finally ending one of the longest running transfer sagas in recent English football history. Essien is now Chelsea's second most expensive signing after the club signed Ukraine forward and captain Andriy Shevchenko from A.C. Milan on 22 May 2006.

The transfer went through on 19 August, purportedly for a slightly reduced fee of £24.4m, nevertheless breaking Chelsea's previous record transfer fee, which they achieved the previous season by paying £24m for Olympique Marseille's Didier Drogba. He made his debut against Arsenal on August 21, wearing the number 5 on his shirt. He has already seemingly cemented his place in José Mourinho's side, starting the majority of the league games since his debut. He got an assist in his full debut against West Bromwich Albion, and he replaced the injured Claude Makélélé in the defensive midfield role against Sunderland in the 2-0 win on September 10, 2005. The midfield of Chelsea looks to have been strengthened by the powerful, athletic Essien, who could well form the Chelsea midfield with Frank Lampard for the next five or more years.

On 15 December, he was handed a 2-match ban by UEFA for a controversial tackle on Dietmar Hamann, which resulted in his suspension from Chelsea's UEFA Champions League second round tie with eventual European champions F.C. Barcelona, which Chelsea lost 3-2 on aggregate. Essien has apologised to Hamann for the challenge (which Hamann has accepted), and insists that while he desires to be perceived as a player who 'unsettles' opponents, he is not a malicious or unsporting player. In January 2006, Essien was himself stretchered off the field, the victim of a poor (and unpunished) challenge from West Ham United captain Nigel Reo-Coker, which sidelined him for three weeks.

Essien scored his first goal for Chelsea in March 2006, in a 2-1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur. His second goal came on 17 April 2006 against Everton. Essien ended his debut season in England with 2 goals for Chelsea, both in the Premier League. However, the arrival of midfielders Michael Ballack from Bayern Munich and John Obi Mikel from F.C. Lyn Oslo in May 2006 means that Essien will face fierce competition to be selected for Chelsea.

His form for Chelsea so far this season, however, has been startling and indicates that not only is he willing to fight for his place but also that he is more than capable of doing so and, perhaps, edging out players previously part of Chelsea's core - such as Claude Makélélé and Frank Lampard. Pundits such as Giles Smith have suggested dropping Lampard, who has been enduring a lean spell in recent months, with Essien filling the void.

On 16 May 2006, Essien was named in the Ghana team that represented Ghana at the 2006 World Cup in Germany. He formed a potent Ghanaian midfield with team captain Stephen Appiah of Fenerbahce and Sulley Ali Muntari of Udinese. Essien played in Ghana's 0-2 defeat to Italy, 2-0 victory over the Czech Republic, and 2-1 victory over the United States, and helped Ghana become the only African team in the second round of the 2006 World Cup. He was suspended for Ghana's second round match against Brazil, which Ghana lost 0-3.

Upon the team's return to Ghana, Essien said that the team had gained invaluable experience and will be aiming to make the next finals, which will be held in Africa for the first time in the tournament's history at South Africa 2010.

On September 12, 2006, Essien scored his first UEFA Champions League goal for Chelsea in a 2-0 victory over Werder Bremen of Germany. To date he has a total of 3 goals in competitive games for Chelsea.

A FIFA World Class Midfielder, Essien was on October 12, 2006, nominated for the 2006 FIFA World Player of the Year Award. He was also nominated for the 2005 FIFA World Player of the Year Award. He placed 22nd in 2005.