Essien Of The Old?

I wouldn’t say he’s a forgotten man, but in the midst of our transition, in which we’ve seen Drogba, Anelka, Malouda, Kalou, Ballack, Joe Cole and Deco depart our club, one man that has stuck around is Michael Essien.
He could’ve been sold 3 years ago, he could’ve ended up at a French team, playing week in and week out for Marseille, getting Champions League football, enjoying a slightly less hectic life and playing for a manager that is even able to tolerate our wonderful Joey Barton.
But he’s stuck around.
Widely known as one of the best midfielders in the Premier League at one point, gaining the same reputation as Yaya Toure currently has in some ways, Essien has been unfortunate with injuries. He’s come back season after season, filling us with hope that we could finally rely on our number 5 in midfield. His quality has hardly ever been a concern. His ability to drive forward as easily as he defends, running in the opposite direction, made him one of our main threats when he was on the field.
He’s single-handedly destroyed midfields with marvellous tackles, brilliant interceptions and overall being a top midfield general.
Last season, Mourinho used Essien as his trump card, as Essien happily slotted into the right-back position, covering for Arbeloa, or in midfield, covering for Khedira or Modric. And if last season was anything to go by, we’ve got ourselves a great squad player, and going by what we saw in pre-season, a potential starter in our starting XI.
Of course, opinions vary, but every time I’ve seen Essien, he still seems to be very solid, and never puts his health before his team. He remains dedicated to every moment on the pitch, and will go in for a crunching tackle with no problem whatsoever.
In his own words:

‘When you have these injuries and I’ve had eight or nine operations on my knees, it’s hard,’ said Essien. ‘I know injuries are part of the game but once you have them you have to relax your mind and work hard to come back.
‘I never thought I should stop playing. It never crossed my mind. I just wanted to get back on the pitch. I go with the flow. I don’t put pressure on myself or anything. I just listen to the doctors and once I’m fit and training I give everything.
‘My knees feel fine now. My knees are not giving me any problems. I just have to keep myself fit and get ready to do a good job for the team.
‘My style hasn’t changed. I’m still the same. When you bump into me you can tell I am still as strong and keeping fit.’

Even Petr Cech approved:

‘He seems to be back to the real Michael Essien,’ said goalkeeper Petr Cech. ‘He’s always been a fantastic player and the only unlucky things were the injuries. He’s back and if he stays fit then it will be great to have him.
‘It was a great thing for him to happen, to go on loan last year and enjoy a great season with Real Madrid. He was unlucky with back-to-back injuries and he had to work very hard to come back.
‘That loan made sure he played more than he could have played and, as you can see, he’s happy, he’s back, he’s fit and he will be very useful for us.’

Surely this is what we’ve been missing?
After all the talk of De Rossi, it was apparent to me that pretty much all of us knew we were lacking in midfield. John Obi Mikel is still a solid player to have, but only works well in a 4-3-3 as a holding midfielder.
Essien however, seems to thrive off having a midfield partner that will make use of his tackles by picking the ball up and driving towards goal. At the moment, the players that seem most compatible with Essien to me are Ramires and Marco van Ginkel.
I feel we should give Essien another chance to give it a whack in midfield, and as I mentioned, if pre-season was anything to go by, our worries are far lesser than what I expected. Of course, should an injury occur, we do have Mikel to resolve the problem to a point, but with the ability Essien possesses, we could realistically have ourselves a solid midfield partnership.
On occassion, I’d even allow him to have a crack at goal, I heard he likes scoring them from a distance…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODxuMH0_M5M]