Essien is the best Ghana player I have played with - Sammy Kuffour

Former Ghana defender Sammy Kuffuor says Michael Essien is the best Black Stars player he ever played with.

This assertion will come as a huge surprise to many, considering that Kuffour played alongside some of Ghana’s finest players, including the legendary Abedi Ayew Pele, who is widely considered as the best player to have come out of Ghana.

Speaking on Metro TV’s Good Evening Ghana with Paul Adom-Otchere, Kuffuor who played with Essien in the national team from 2002 to 2006 said the former Chelsea midfielder’s understanding of the game is incredible.

“At the 2006 World Cup we (Ghana) believed that we could do something great and we had very good players like Appiah and Essien. And for me Essien is the best Ghana player I ever played with in the Black Stars. He understands the game and makes it easier for his teammates whenever he is on the field”, Kuffour affirmed.

Speaking about the Black Stars, the former Bayern Munich player said he achieved everything he wanted to when he set out to be a professional player and has no regrets how his career panned out.

He stressed that his infamous last game for the Black Stars at the 2006 World Cup which saw him commit a calamitous error and led to a goal didn’t affect him as people thought it would.

“I apologized to my teammates in the dressing room after the game but I don’t think I owe Ghanaians an apology for that because mistakes do happen and I didn’t kill anybody.”

Kuffour has had an illustrious career and his retirement from active football is even better. He has been a pundit for South African based SuperSport for a couple of years now but says he will take a break during this World Cup period for medical reasons. Kuffour says he has been advised by his doctors against excessive travels.

“I really wish that I can go [to SuperSport] but I am not feeling too well. I have travelled so much. I spoke with my doctor and I need a rest”, he told Paul Adom-Otchere

Kuffour, who has been a pundit on SuperSport for about five years, disclosed that he has travelled more than 86 times since the beginning of January 2018 and has been “breathing artificial air and so on, so, I get headache”.

It is for the same reason that he could not participate in discussions towards the end of the Champions League.