Michael Essien makes loan move to giants Real Madrid
Posted On Friday, 31st August 2012
Real Madrid have signed Chelsea’s Michael Essien on loan, pipping Arsenal to the signing of the midfield gem.
The Gunners had been the first to make an approach for the out-of-favour midfielder, who was left out of the Blues’ squad for their UEFA Super Cup clash with Atletico Madrid.
Manager Roberto di Matteo confirmed before that match that Essien was hoping to sort out a temporary switch away from Stamford Bridge, and suggested the destination was not a rival.
And later on Friday night, Cheslea released a statement confirming the deal.
It said: ‘Chelsea announces that Michael Essien has joined Real Madrid on a season-long loan.
‘The 29-year-old midfielder, who joined the club in 2005 from Lyon, will move to the Bernabeu and link up with former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, the man who brought him to Stamford Bridge.
‘Essien has been a pivotal member of the Blues midfield during his six seasons in west London, winning two Premier League titles, four FA Cups and one Champions League winners’ medal.
‘After making his debut as a second-half substitute against Arsenal at the beginning of the 2005/06 season, he went on to play a key role in helping the Blues secure back-to-back titles.
‘The Ghanaian scored his first goal for the club during a 2-1 win against Tottenham and won the Goal of the Season for his long-range strike against Arsenal a year later.
‘He followed that up with the same award for his volley against Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final. In total he has scored 25 goals for Chelsea in 247 appearances.
‘He is a popular figure among team-mates, management and supporters.’
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wow!!! am loving it!!!! hope he can stay there until he retires from football..wow!! thats yummy nd quite newsy!!!!!!
great move. Kudos to their agent. he always get them good deals whenever it seems like they struggling.
This is the best soccer news i ve heard all day. indeed the GH blood is thicker than water. WOOOOOOWW! i went 2 goal.com n the response frm the madrid fans was sooo gud. hala madrid! go GH
first time i have laugh so laud, omg! am so so happy!
YES! Finally I’m so happy for Essien to get away from Chelsea. They don’t deserve him at all and now everyone will witness how incompetent Di Matteo is as a manager and how lucky he was last reason winning the champions league and FA cup. He will be exposed this season, starting with being hammered by Athletico Bilbao,haha… I’m no more a Chelsea fan.
nyc 4 him.but still asking,how does this change da price of kenkey?
funny shit, I guess he will organize some kenkey give away to all yall for the support.
@JNR:release some stress wit this
FALCAO has
Caused So much
HAZARD that he
Deserves more
than an OSCAR for
that MATA !!! #
SaveChelsea… And i pray 4 falcao 2 destroy any chelsea in y’all life this season.ameen
this is an awesome combination
@iDontGiveAdamn, nice one! That was a good stress free laugh i had with your awesome quote. I’m not a Chelsea fan anymore because i still think Di Matteo is a rubbish coach. How the fuck you got Mikel and Meireles ahead of Essien? It still baffles me but glad he finally gone to a more respected club where his potential can be realised again by the best coach in the Game.
My next bet is for Chelsea to lose their next match again, had a little bet in the bookies for them to lose against Athletico Madrid and Falcao to score first goal. £10 won me £110, nice one Chelsea. Keep losing and i will be richer weekly.
Essien is 38 … thats why he cant get in the team and why he will not win a starting role for Real.
His days are numbers along with J.Mensah … you can’t hide from age cheating – if catches you eventually and it has caught Essien.
@oldman Essien gave birth to your peasant useless parents. fool.
WE TRUE….YOU CANNOT CHEAT NATURE.
I AGREE WITH YOU JNR
Chelsea will regret this. A Big mistake by Chelsea.
Chelsea will not regret this.A Big mistake by Real Madrid.Essien is going to warm the ench again because he is finished .The knee injury has destroyed him.Murinho just wants to help him.
Dimateo is senseless in coaching.chelsea will see Essien shy.i wish him all the best at Madrid.
Mourinho is simply telling Di Mateo he is dumb for playing mikel obi ahead of Essien. Song to barca and Essien madrid, good for African football.
This is a great move for Essien cos Jose Mourinho will get the best out of him.Congratulation for leaving that slavery chelsea team and i bet you Di matoes will be fired not beyond this season. Good luck my boy
I am now a Real Madrid fan, Di Mateo be yawa coach, Atletico madrid proved to him that he was lucky to win the CL last season………. Goodluck Essien. Thank you morinho u have made my day.
Master Essien.. You go boy..We love you in New York
Am hapi 4 essien 4 dis mo
Di Matteo how can u play Mikel obi ahead of Essien? I mean who does that? Essien + Mourinho = more VIM!!!!!!
essien,why didnt u move to arsenal to takeover the position of song?well,God bless u
This is just like when makelele move from madrid to Chelsea and we all know madrid pay dearly for it… this time around chelsea ll pay dearly for it too…. essien for me is irreplaceable in chelseaand no matter how hard mikel and others try,their run ll come to an end ….time ll tell and yet again mourinho is looking for a perfect opportunity to punish chelsea and abramhovich and i think the revolution begins now with essien signing!!
Essien now taking all ghanaian chelsea fans to Madrid? I guess so cuz Chelsea fan base grew tremendously well in Ghana but i guessed now that he is leaving,chelsea fan base in Ghana ll go down!! Now i dey against kesse3 pa!!!
eeeeii” selfmade” u r still awake posting comment. ebei! abrantie” da kakra mame ai” anyway am happy 4 essien
Yah,this is a great move 4 an incredible player.Wish all d best in real madrid shirt,go 4 glory guy!
hala madrid
welcome to the only team with the only coach,-bon arrive’ essien
Ooh what a better move for Essien!
This is wonderful news I’m so happy I don’t know what to do with myself. Thank God almighty for this move. This is one of the teams I was hoping Essien would play b4 he retires the other is Barcelona. He deserves it I was so mad he turned down the opportunity to play for Madrid last season b4 he got injured but God’s time is the best. That idiot di matteo will fail big time and I’m praying he does he rode Drogba to champions league glory and he thinks he can coach and he didn’t even play Essien in the final with his wealth of experience instead he preferred Betrand I didn’t want them to win but I was happy they did cos Essien has won a champions league trophy. I wish Essien well and I pray he’s stays healthy, has a good season and make a permanent move to Madrid.
This is the greatest news I have missed in a long while.oh what a happy day! I have finally switched to Real Madrid as a fan.
Dis s a gud step de only ve tyking nd s goin 2 help hm as wel as madrid team as whole.Essien nyce move dnt worry ganguntur di mateo wil sacked bcos failin secure ur service
AM OVER EXCITED,DAT INCOMPITENT COACH WILL BE SACKED.AM NO MORE A CHELSEA FUN,HALA MADRID
Am very hapy dat essien is now in de world best club.
OMG WHAT COULD BE SO EXCITING THAN THIS I HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO SLEEP OVER THIS ESSIEN TRANSFER SAGA AND MY HEART IS AT PEACE BUT GHANA WILL NEVER FOR GIVE CHELSEA.I PRAY ESSIEN SECURES A PERMANENT DEAL IN MADRID.E DEY BEE K3K3
Essien is going to Madrid with his ARMY of Ghana fans.Down Chelsea and Di Matteo, Up Madrid and Mourinho. HALLA MADRID….E DEY BEEEE K3K3.
Wat d hail ????????????? we ghanaians celebrating for?Essien going to madrid wud turn to be same old story,cos he WA?????s brought on as A????? back up for Alonso A?????D????? Khedira,even diarra is ahead of him i?????n????? pecking if his proposed moye to Anzhi falls thru,???? dnt think that move to madrid WA?????s A????? smart,agreed that he needed to leave chelsea to save his career but A????? smaller club wud hv bin A????? better option were he’ll b guaranteed mor playn time wit less pressure,at madrid ???? tink he will spend mor tim on bench dan on d pitch.best of luck alld same.
U not making any sense u think Madrid signed him on loan for decoration, why won’t he be played? among the players u mentioned the only guy who’s as good as Essien is Alonzo Diarra is rubbish how can u say he’s ahead of Essien or Khedira is good but not in the class of Essien. And why shouldn’t we be happy he’s playing for the most successful club team in the world where legends like Alfredo Di Stefano, Hugo Sanchez, Figo, Zidane and R9 have played just to name a few. No ghanaian player has ever played for Madrid so it is a big deal. Don’t be pessimistic and negative that’s not good. I pray he has a good season and signs for them on a permanent basis and u should too.
Someone who will say Essien’s Move to Madrid is a bad one does not know anything about about sports to just let them be..
Essien will surely be back at chelsea after di mateo is sacked. I want all chelsea supporters to take heart nd watch hw this season will go for us. Dont jst quit cus its football nd it happens. The blues forever!
Hi and CONGRATULATIONS Wendy !Made me CRY all over again ! Great JOB* As the USMC Mom I could not be more flattrered for them being on the Cover and the wodrenful article in the magazine! Even more Important is the pride of their True Commitment,Admiration & Focus for one another that shows remarkably in their Everyday life! Truley Thankful ! USMCMAAAH Julie
U pig wat re u up 2.Essien will bounce back in grand style watch out 4 him u enemies of Progress. No injuries formed against u shall prosper i pray 4 mre Progress in ur Life in Jesus Mighty Name Amen. MICHAEL shw so called Di matteo é storf u r made of. GH is solidly behind u.ALL DE BEST.CIAO
Anybody who thinks Essien would not make it in Real is a joker.Mourinho knows the ability of Essien than an coach so Essien would not disappoint.secondly,Essien would overcome this fresh career challenge by taking advantage of the opportunity.
RDM never knew what he was loosing in essien
Am short of words i dnt evn noe wat 2 say,am soo so happy for him wat a move and i think he deserves it but first of all he i give thanks to the almighty God and secondly to mourinho for the opportunity that he has given to Essien once again and folks bliv Essien will not disappoint him.this is the best news i hav heard the whole of this week and its a news i been xpectin
It was the same mourinho who brought kaka but yet was always on the bench,essien not all dat glitters is gold,u shd have joined arsenal or tottenham,plss alonso,ozil,khadera,di marria,nd the rest are all there,mourinho want to use ya as a wokerholic player but dis is the case where u are not strong enough to play the way used to,hmmm,man I fear gyve ya,anyway all the best nd don’t try to impress anybody by playin hard cos u might hurt again.
for your information,MOURINHO IS NOT THE ONE WHO BROUGHT KAKA AND RONALDO TO MADRID OKAY.IT WAS BERND SCHUSTER WHO BROUGHT THEM TO MADRID
Great news to Ghana soccer, Mourinho will still remaind the adopted son of Ghanaians.Essien we are solidly behind you, buck up and prove the whole world wrong, God be with you.
Am very happy 4 Essien. I pray that he will play well to prove everybody who think he cannot play again wrong. God bless u my man.
kudos to Jose for choosing Essien.Boy we wish u well in Madrid
Essien should take this opportunity to launch himself and say goodbye to Chelsea.
The spanish league will be good for Essien because it is more tactical and also they have winter breaks unlike the premier league.
Di-mateo is a useless fool.A nigerian becomes a coach and he influence preference for his countryman.
Chelsea will miss the bison.
yawn, this thread is soooo typical, he should’ve joined arsenal really
That’s a good move!!! Coach Jose Murinho is the only coach who knows how to use him on the pitch
I pray he resurect his career with Real Madrid, Abrah still believes the worth of Essien that’s why he refused to sell him to Real Madrid, after the departure of RDM Essien will be back, strong and better for Chelsea
HE should have quit Chelsea long before. Lampard and Mikel play some stupid football and yet, they get playing time every now and then.
@ Mr.babz… thanx alot but am not in Ghana… am in the state,so the time is different
i luv dat 4 Essien
hahahaha, retarded ghanians, funny how someone who cud not break into the chelsea first eleven is supposed to break into real madrid’s. well he will play weneva khedira is injured or tired
YAY! I LOVE Sugar & Spice! I am SO jealous! I would have been the crazy Christine Campbell fiillng up my purse with all of the desserts to haul them home! LOL MY FAVORITE!!! Gold Hill winery is super pretty and I love how you captured it! I was there a couple of years ago and honestly I was totally wilted by the time the wedding got going. They had my start time as 3 hours BEFORE even the venue people were set to arrive to start setting up, so I was out in 105 degree heat alone and afraid to leave in case someone showed up, but with no cell reception. LOL You did AWESOME!