Michael Essien

[Mufassir08 2,400]

Essien in his prime against yaya toure would have been an interesting battle............

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Happy birthday to the bison, turns 30 today.

[Kez 2,727]

Happy 30th Birthday Bison!!!

[dumps 284]

I read that Essien has returned from his loan at Madrid due to injury.

is this true? anybody know anythign about the injury and if he is going to return to Madrid once he is fit or will he be staying? I think he would fit in well to the way Rafa plays.

[Jype 6,398]

I read that Essien has returned from his loan at Madrid due to injury.

is this true? anybody know anythign about the injury and if he is going to return to Madrid once he is fit or will he be staying? I think he would fit in well to the way Rafa plays.

He's back at Cobham to get treatment for his injury but as soon as he's fit he will return to Madrid.

[dumps 284]

He's back at Cobham to get treatment for his injury but as soon as he's fit he will return to Madrid.

Really think we could do with him at the moment.

[Rubber bullets 1,183]

Really think we could do with him at the moment.

In that case we are really scrapping the shit barrel.

[Corner 456]

I read that Essien has returned from his loan at Madrid due to injury.

is this true? anybody know anythign about the injury and if he is going to return to Madrid once he is fit or will he be staying? I think he would fit in well to the way Rafa plays.

Even if he was fit, he hasn't been registered to play in the Premiership. We wouldn't be able to register him until January, for the second half of the season.

[Grillinnap 129]

How was he doing at Real before the injury?

[BlueLion. 21,491]

We could actually do with him back. Without Mikel and Oriol we have no midfield steel at all.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

We could actually do with him back. Without Mikel and Oriol we have no midfield steel at all.

Agree, if we had him in midfield yesterday we probably would not have lost. We can't go till mid Feb without a proper defensive midfielder.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

He has looked a lot more mobile since going to Madrid; playing regularly has done well for his stamina and fitness. Mourinho has been playing him at LB and RB more often than not, and that would offer further cover for Cole and Azpi if needed. Just don't see the sense in us paying his wages and him be playing regularly for the Spanish champions instead.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Just don't see the sense in us paying his wages and him be playing regularly for the Spanish champions instead.

Possible fallout with the board behind the scenes?

[The only place to be 11,313]

Just don't see the sense in us paying his wages and him be playing regularly for the Spanish champions instead.

Are we paying his wages? What percentage are Real Madrid paying?

[BlueLion. 21,491]

I'd assume we're paying his wages as a 'favour' to Mourinho. Nothing official on it, just going by what was 'reported' at the time.

[The only place to be 11,313]

I'd assume we're paying his wages as a 'favour' to Mourinho. Nothing official on it, just going by what was 'reported' at the time.

So we're doing Mourinho a favour?

From what I heard we were looking for ways to reduce the wage bill by loaning out players who weren't going to be part of the first team squad. Benayoun had about half of his wages paid by West Ham whilst the figure I heard for Essien was a little higher. It made sense at the time, considering Essien hadn't looked like his old self for about two years.

[Rubber bullets 1,183]

We could actually do with him back. Without Mikel and Oriol we have no midfield steel at all.

He hardly plays in midfield, most of his appearances (when he does get one) have come from defense whenever their fullbacks are injured. He still looks like his knees are made of jelly, he is much slower then 4 or 5 years ago and all of his performances I have seen have been at best average. Would be like trying to put flavour on a shit sundae with piss.

Some people still hold on to this deluded belief that Essien has even a little bit of the "steel" he used to have. Much rather buy a DM that actually has knee caps.

[Kieran. 6,317]

I'd assume we're paying his wages as a 'favour' to Mourinho. Nothing official on it, just going by what was 'reported' at the time.

The writers at We Ain't Got No History have said that RM pay his wages, but it was a while ago and I don't want to dig it up.