Agree with the ones who said we should sell him if we receive a good offer. Essien hasn't played that many games for us in the last season, about 10 if my memory serves me well. So, how difficult is it to replace such a player? We're not talking about the Matas and Cechs, we're talking about a guy who is a role player at best (due to his injuries, to be fair). In his prime he was maybe the best midfielder in the world, but we all know that's past. He's earning too much for a squad player and he is not good enough to be a starter. Keeping him will just hinder us buying a younger, more cost-efficient player who can give us a few more years of his best performances whereas Ess is on the on the skids. This all may sound harsh, but it's the reality. We've already offloaded players like Bosingwa to start a new era, so why not offload Essien too?! For the club's sake, we have to move on.