Ghana legend Michael Essien has shared how Ivorian international Didier Drogba played a part in convincing him to join Premier League side, Chelsea.
Essien joined the Blues from French Ligue 1 outfit Olympic Lyon in 2005 for £24.4million, where he stayed at Stamford Bridge for nine years scoring 17 goals in 168 appearances.
The former Ghana midfielder in an interview with Ladbrokes disclosed that a call from Chelsea striker Drogba played a massive part in his decision despite him considering a transfer to Gerard Houllier’s Liverpool.
The combative midfielder was enjoying a nice barbecue at Florent Malouda’s house when the phone rang.
“I remember the period before I joined Chelsea quite well, specifically when I first heard about their interest in me.
“I was at Florent Malouda’s house having a barbecue with some of the other teammates when a call came in.
“It was Didier Drogba on the line. He was asking Malouda about me, about Malouda said “Michael’s right here, you can speak to him yourself” and he passed the phone over to me.”
The 38-year old who is now a member of FC Nordjaelland technical team has revealed his career could have been different with a granted work permit in his youth career.
“When I was around 17 I had a couple of trials with Manchester United but I couldn’t get a work permit so I played in France for a while,” he said.
“During my time in France I visited Liverpool when Gerard Houllier was in charge but nothing happened there.
“A few other clubs were interested in me at the time Chelsea showed an interest, but I was set on a move to Chelsea after talking to Jose and a couple of the players.
“Didier told me that Jose Mourinho wanted to speak with me so I passed him my number and that’s when everything started moving for me.”
Source: Mybrytfmonline/Sylvester Ntim
