Michael Essien reveals interesting background story to Real Madrid move

One of the strangest transfer stories is the movement of Michael Essien from Chelsea to Real Madrid in 2013.

Shortly after winning the Champions League with the Blues, Michael Essien who had been on the peripherals of the Chelsea team reunited with Jose Mourinho at Real Madrid.

An interesting background story that has often been told about the move is how Essien had to jump from Chelsea’s team bus to return to his hotel to seal the deal before the transfer deadline day.

More than a decade after that move, Michael Essien has opened up about the move and given a detailed account of the bus-jumping story.

“ I was with Chelsea in Monaco for the Super Cup and my cousin was with me. My phone rang a number of times and I failed to pick but my cousin asked me to pick but I told him I don’t know the number. Eventually, I picked and as soon as I heard the reply to my hello, I knew who it was. So I told my cousin that it is Jose Mourinho and we started talking.

“He said that he heard that I was probably going to Arsenal and I said it wasn’t true. He told me if I was going to Arsenal then I should come to him instead. I asked, come to you, as in Madrid and he said yes. I told him that I was ready. It was the last day of the transfer window so he asked for the agent's number and I gave it to him.

“He said Lassana Diara was going to Russia so if he moved then they’d come for me and I told him, I’m ready. My agent called me after an hour and I confirmed that I’d already spoken to Jose. So the process started and they had to do it quickly because the deadline was approaching.

“The bus (Chelsea team bus) was leaving the hotel for the match so my agent called and asked me to come back to the hotel because he was going to fax the documents to me. I had to shout from the back of the bus for it to stop. All my teammates were looking at me like what was going on. So I got off the bus and my agent came around and everything happened. Thank God everything happened on time” Essien said as captured by Citi Sports.

In his one-year loan deal to Madrid, the Ghanaian football legend made 35 appearances for the Los Blancos, scoring two goals and making one assist.