Michael Essien Michael Essien Michael Kojo Essien (sometimes written in French: Michaël Essien) (born 3 December 1982) is a Ghanaian professional footballer. He has also been capped for the Ghana national team more than 50 times. Essien started his career playing for Liberty Professionals in Ghana. In 2000, he moved to France to join Bastia, where he would spend three seasons and appear in over 60 matches before joining Ligue 1 title holders Lyon in 2003. At Lyon, Essien won back-to-back league titles in 2003–04 and 2004–05 and also played in the UEFA Champions League for the first time. During his five-year
Michael Essien a season-long loan deal with Real Madrid, reuniting him with his former manager at Chelsea, José Mourinho. At his introductory press conference with Real Madrid, Mourinho affectionally referred to Essien as "his son" while Essien referred to Mourinho as his "Daddy". On 3 November, Essien scored his first goal for Real Madrid. During the last match of the season – and Essien's last game as a Madrid player – Essien scored his second goal for Madrid, which he dedicated to Mourinho. Essien signed for Italian club Milan on a one-and-a-half-year contract on 27 January 2014. On 2 June 2015, Essien