Michael Essien was born in Accra, Ghana, Africa on 3rd December 1982 he currently plays for Chelsea FC in English Premiership wearing the number 5 shirt.
Essien can player every position across the midfield and also as a rightback if required, it was as a rightback against Arsenal in 2006 that he scored a thunderbolt of a goal to tie the game against 1-1 when it had looked like Arsenal would secure a rare loss for Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
Michael started his football career at native team Liberty Professionals, he was first noticed by European teams when playing for Ghana at the U'17 World Cup in 1999. In July of that year he joined French club SC Bastia, where he initially struggled to hold down a regular starting position. When given a chance to play in central midfield though Essien shone and by 2002 he was starting full internationals in a Ghana shirt at the African Nations Cup.
His success saw him wanted by a range of clubs in France & England whilst PSG made the best offer, Essien himself opted to join Olympique Lyonnais with whom he went on to win the French League in 2004 and 2005.
By August 2005 Essien wanted to move to English champions Chelsea whose attempts at a European Cup win were being bankrolled by Roman Abramovich. He threatend to go on strike if the club would not let him go. He moved for £24.4m making him the most expensive African footballer of all time. Michael won his first english trophy that season, the English Premier League wearing the Chelsea number 5 shirt.
