Michael Essien's Chelsea Career Left Hanging by a Thread with Latest Setback

Starring for the Black Satellites in the 2001 FIFA U-20 World Cup held in Argentina,18-year-old Michael Essien put the footballing world on high notice of his amazing potential.

Just two years earlier at the FIFA U-17 World Cup held in New Zealand, the Ghanaian starlet had taken his international bow for "The Riley Goon Squad." Within two years, the Bastia Dynamo was turning heads all around Europe with his tough tackling style, boundless energy and imposing physical presence on the pitch cutting an irrepressible and commanding image.

Essien used the two aforementioned FIFA age group tournaments to put himself squarely in the transfer window, and inevitably the big guns of Ligue One came calling.

It was truly the culmination of an utterly meteoric rise for the unassuming boy from Accra who had hurtled through the youth ranks of Liberty Professionals and had sealed a move to unfashionable Bastia in the summer of 2000.

Paris Saint Germain tried desperately but ultimately unsuccessfully to scupper Essien's move to the Stade de Gerland in 2003. His move to Olympique Lyonnais was a match made in the proverbial football heaven. Les Gones allowed Essien the ideal platform to showcase his all-action box to box midfield game alongside the complementary talents of Juninho Pernambucano and Mahamadou Diarra, and he quickly set tongues wagging with his imperious play in the engine room of the FC Lyon juggernaut.

In a team filled with a cadre of stars coursing through its veins, Essien was undisputably the heartbeat and talisman, despite the sterling contributions of Eric Abidal, Cris, Juninho Pernambucano, Sidney Govou and Mahamadou Diarra.

The all-conquering OL, with the financial backing of its supremo Jean-Michel Aulas, began to flex its collective muscle on Europe's grandest stage: the UEFA Champions League.

The heavyweights of European football were immediately taking considerable notice of Michael Essien, the Ghanaian behemoth. Jose Mourinho, the brash and proactive Chelsea manager, impressed with Essien's amazing all-round game finally landed his man in August of 2005, ending one of the longest transfer sagas since the inception of the transfer window in the 2002-2003 season.

Crossing the English channel, Essien made a seamless transition into the "Special One's" fluid 4-3-3 formation and rapidly drew praises from all and sundry. It was quite amazing how easily he wore the tag of Africa's most expensive ever player as he took to the BPL like a fish to water. Alan Green on the BBC World Service referred to the Ghanaian powerhouse as being "three players rolled into one" after being treated to one of Essien's all-action displays for the reigning Premier League Champions.

His baptism into arguably the world's toughest league was devoid of the six month period of acclimatization as he hit the ground absolutely flying. It quickly became routine to see "The Bison" wrecking havoc to the opposition's midfield up and down the country.

His considerable influence was also clearly visible on the European front where Chelsea was also now firmly established as a perennial contender for European football's greatest prize: the UEFA Champions league. While the likes of Drogba and Lampard collected the major plaudits for the Fulham-based outfit, it was Essien's yang that facilitated the ying of the big Ivorian and the prolific Englishman by providing them with the platform from which to operate. In addition to his deep lying midfield role, the Ghanaian's versatility allowed him to play with consummate ease for periods at centre half and at right back in the absence of the regulars: Carvalho, Terry, Ferreira and Belletti. 

Dynamic for his West London club, Essien was also instrumental in Ghana's first ever appearance at the FIFA World Cup of 2006.

The same tenacious and committed displays evident for the club were readily apparent for the Black Stars. This definitely was the case of a player equally as productive for club and country. As he had proved at the start of the decade with the Black Starlets, Essien was unquestionably the talisman, as finally the potential of Ghana's football—for so long highly regarded at all FIFA age group levels—was now clearly evident at the senior level.

Essien became a national icon in his country. Sekondi, Kumasi and Tamale joined Accra in claiming Essien as a national treasure, as he was always willing to make himself available for national selection in an era when the club versus country row invariably leaves countries devoid of their better players.

During an international match played against Libya on September 5, 2008, Essien ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament playing for Ghana in the 2010 World Cup qualifier and was duly ruled out of action for six months, thus missing the majority of the 2008-09 season.

Unfortunately, further injuries caused Essien to miss the opportunity of representing the West African country in South Africa 2010, where his beloved Black Stars went all the way to the quarterfinals. Since the aforementioned first major injury, the rugged powerhouse has been laid low by a plethora of injuries that have left his game devoid of its intensity and physicality.

"The Bison" has been a shadow of his former imperiously powerful self. Where opponents once cowered with trepidation and timidity at the thought of facing the Ghanaian dynamo, they are now licking their chops.

Debilitating injuries and his propensity to strain every sinew of his 178 cm frame for the success of his teams have palpably negated the former Les Gones lynchpin's impact and resulted in his considerable influence for both club and country waning. For Ghana's brightest Black Star, the prospect of up to six months on the sidelines is the last thing that he would have hoped for with Andre Villas-Boas recently assuming control at Stamford Bridge and with Ghana's burgeoning conveyor belt of talent continuing to churn out talent almost on a daily basis.

Has "The Bison's" star permanently faded, or will it rise again to illuminate for both club and country? In a year's time, we will know definitively as the Ghanaian turns 30 in approximately 18 months' time.