Chelsea to register Essien for Champions League in January

English side Chelsea will register Michael Essien for the Champions League in January after the Ghana international hit top form with the Black Stars by helping the Black Stars to qualify for the 2014 World Cup.

The influential midfielder was shockingly dropped from Chelsea’s squad for the Champions League in August which sparked concerns over his future with the Blues.

Essien has found less first team playing opportunities at Chelsea though he returned to the club on the orders of Coach Jose Mourinho.

The Portuguese manager has surprised many by excluding the Ghanaian from most of their key matches including the Premier League and Champions League.

But since the Ghanaian enforcer proved the manager wrong by being in excellent form for Ghana as they emphatically sealed their place at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Mourinho now says Essien will be registered in place of injured Marco van Ginkel when the Champions League registration re-opens in January.

“I will change Marco van Ginkel with Essien in the Champions League squad list. We are going to try to find balances,” Mourinho told a press conference this weekend.

“Our squad is our squad. Instead of thinking about the market, we will think about trying to work and trying to improve the team.”

The news is a welcome relieve to some Chelsea fans who were left gutted by the youngster’s injury, but frustrated by ‘daddy’ Mourinho leaving out ‘son’ Essien from the squad in the first place.

The Netherlands international, 20, is ruled out for the rest of the season.

He landed awkwardly under pressure from Swindon’s Alex Pritchard earlier on in the third-round league cup win, tearing an anterior cruciate ligament in the process.

The £8.4m summer buy from Vitesse Arnhem has since successfully undergone operation.