MOVING ON

Michael Essien might not be playing for Chelsea in the second half of the ongoing season as he is willing for an away move during the mid season transfer window.

Essien had played for Real Madrid on loan in the last season, but, at the start of the ongoing season, he was back to his parent club and with Jose Mourinho making his way back to the Stamford Bridge, it was expected that the Ghana midfielder would feature in the starting XI of the Blues quite regularly, but, that hasn’t happened. He has been given the starting opportunity only a couple of times in the Premier League so far this season.

The club which is believed to be most interested to secure the services of Essien is Al Ain. They are the biggest club in United Arab Emirates and they are currently desperate for a quality midfielder because of the fitness problems of their main playmaker Mirel Radoi.

Radoi had discovered a leg injury while playing in the game against Ahli and he hasn’t managed to recover from that yet. He has played a few games of late though, but, quite clearly, he was not moving that well on the pitch in those games. According to the reports, he might have to undergo surgery to get rid of that problem completely.

While talking to the reporters a couple of days ago, one of the spokespersons of Al Ain refused to say anything when he was asked about the chances of Essien being signed, but, he didn’t deny the rumours either.

Asamoah Gyan who is the skipper of Essien’s national side Ghana also plays for Al Ain and that’s one of the things which might persuade Essien to sign for the UAE club.