OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS

Michael Essien’s last few seasons with Chelsea was not the best of his career as he was being left out of a number of matches and had to settle with a place on the sidelines. His age was a factor that gave him a huge disadvantage as he had to battle for a place in the starting lineup of Jose Mourinho who preferred using some younger and faster options such as Oscar, Hazard or Nemanja Matic.

His lack of playing time with Chelsea ultimately led to him being transferred out to Ac.Milan as he signed a one and half year contract deal with the Italian club who currently are struggling trying to find a top 5 spot in the Serie A.

At his 31 years of age, this may be the last club that Michael Essien get the chance to play in such a highly competitive scenario before moving deciding to hang up his boots or moving out to the MLS where many other senior players have chosen to spend the last remaining few years of their career.

The former Real Madrid player announced to the media that he is ready to prove himself in a different stage such as Ac.Milan.

"Yes, a lack of first team football at Chelsea was one of the reasons I moved, but more importantly the Coach at Milan personally called me and showed that he wanted me as part of his project and that was important for me. I had always said I will like to play for Milan at some stage in my career so when the opportunity came up I grabbed it with both hands’’.

"I think it's important to be able to fully demonstrate my value as a player and as a man. If we are to reach our goals it will be the result of the work that we put in every day on the training pitch". Essien revealed.